Real Monsters
by Fallain
Summary: When an obsessed hunter sees the Trickster and Sam Winchester together it becomes a battle to see who is really the monster that needs to be hunted. Things get complicated when another angel with a grudge against Gabriel enters the hunt GabrielxSam SLASH
1. A new old hunt

Disclaimer: Nothing you reconize belongs to me

Warnings: mild language, sexual innuendos and themes, future torture, SLASH GabrielxSam.

Chapter 1: A New Old Hunt

Phillip Mugen sat around in Caterby's roadside bar. Ever since Harvelle's burned down over two years ago it was the closest place to a hunter get-together he could find. A bar where he felt safe knowing that everyone around him was packing and no demon or vampire would be stupid enough to wander into with the occasional innocent civilian passing through the area that would stop in for a drink and to check out the old rock music on the jukebox.

The place was nothing compared to Harvelle's though. He'd seen Ellen only once since it was destroyed, taking the quirky computer genuis Ash with it. Rumor was that both Ellen and Jo were dead now, in heaven with the mullet-headed whack job. He'd give anything to see that mullet again though, or hear Ellen's voice yelling at fellow hunters to put their weapons away when an unknown car pulled up or have his butt whooped by Jo in the old arcade shooting game.

Rumor also was that the Winchester boys were the ones that got the both of them killed. Like father like sons, the Winchester family seemed to always be responsible for a death of a Harvelle and Phil swirled the whiskey around in his glass, getting lost in his memories before taking a long swig. The liquid burned down his throat, leaving a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach and a fuzzy sound in his head.

Craig the bartender wiped imaginary flecks off the counter infront of Phil and looked around to make sure no civilians were around.

"Rough hunt?"

Phil toke another swig and grimanced.

"You have no idea. Ran into this - this creature. At first I thought it was a Leszy...you know, the Salvic forest shapeshifting spirit that likes to play pranks? In Wilmington, North Carolina there was this thing luring stupid college kids out into the woods where they'd get attacked by - get this- sterotypical werewolves. Like those Indians from that Twilight shit, ya know, big 6 ft wolves. Turns out the kids were actually wanted by the police for running an underground dog-fighting ring but still... I have no idea what that creature was but...damn. Materialized a damned saber-toothed lion out of nowhere that almost toke my head off before I managed to shove a stake through it's heart. Seemed to do the trick though." He smirked. "Sonovabitch dropped dead faster than a watermelon being thrown off the top of a building."

Craig shook his head. "Materalized things out of thin air and killed people that deserved it in an ironic way? I dunno pal, sounds like the Trickster to me."

"The Trickster?" Phil asked.

A man with a dark black beard and a scar from his cheek to his chin sat down next to him.

"Yea, you've probably heard of them..they're creatures with unreconizable power over time and space. Vanishes into thin air and creates impossible things from nothing?"

Phil nodded, thinking back to the saber-toothed lion that had been extinct for hundreds of years and suddenly appered out of nowhere just as a seeminly normal man in a red button-down shirt appered, also from thin air, behind him with a soft blow of the wind.

Craig put his washrag away. "Rumor has it that the stake doesn't actually kill the sonovabitch. That he's actually the Norse God Loki and he just pretends to die."

Phil toke a second to think. "But can't most gods and goddesses be killed by being stabbed? I mean, no one worships them anymore so their so weak." He let out a rough laugh that sounded more like a bark.

A asian girl with long black hair, slanted brown eyes and tribal tatoos all the way from her shoulder to her wrists leaned onto the counter on the other side of Phil. When she spoke it wasn't what Phil was expecting at all, anything but an asian accent.

"Well it's eitha the same damned thang pretendin ta die and then healing itself when we're gone, or there are hundreds of Tricksters out thar. 'Cause everone i've eva talked ta about it says he always looks tha same." Her eyes met Phils own grey ones. "Betcha yours looked tha same - dark ginger hair, green eyes, pale with weird ears and looksa lika human bout this tall?" She held her hand up infront of her exampling the height.

Phil nodded his head. "So no ones been able to kill this thing? What is it really?"

Craig slid the hunter with the beard another cold Miller draft. "No one knows, like I said, theres rumors of it being Loki. Your the first i've heard to think of Leszy, but don't those have glowing eyes when their in human form? Some have thought it was a Tulpa, or Coyote... but no one has been able to kill it. Heck, I know some people that have chopped it up into pieces or burned it and scattered the ashes."

"Unless thars more than one and they all jus' look tha same." The asian girl spoke up and Craig nodded, starting to wipe down a dirty pint glass.

Phil sat back, suddenly feeling irritated and the need for another glass of whiskey that Craig gladly filled for him. It angered him to think that those kids had died just because some creature thought of itself as walking karma and he'd spent all that time and almost died to take down the bastard that did it...and it might not even be dead. It might have just sat up and pulled that stake out as soon as he'd walked away. He gripped the glass tightly. If there was one thing Phil hated, it was loosing.

"Tell me everything you know about this Trickster. Everything it's created, everyone it's killed, everything that everyone has ever tried to kill it with - everything."

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

A few miles away Gabriel walked into a clearing in the woods. The bloody carcass of his saber-toothed lion vanished with a wave of his hand before he bent down over the remains of his own doppleganger and sighed. Hunters had been getting more and more vicious. He'd seen the cold fury in the hunter's eyes and thought he'd be more aggressive and be one of the ones that liked to hack their enemies into pieces so he'd vouched for creating a double of himself and sitting back in the trees to watch the show.

He had to give the hunter...what was his name again? Phillip Mugen? Props for taking down the large prehistoic mammal but seeing someone murdering something that looked just like you without a second's hesitation or regret never sat well with someone's nerves, not even an Arch Angels. His clone vanished in wisps of light smoke and he ran a hand through his ginger hair.

He'd been laying low for awhile. Going all the way across the country whenever he felt the need to smite some jerk out of pure boredom. Sam and Dean were currently in Arizona so he'd come all the way over to North Carolina to work his mojo. If word got back to the hunters that he was still up to his pranks neither of them would be happy with him. It wasn't enough for him to just be on Team Free Will, noooo, they wanted him to be a good little guardian angel like the kids you see in Children's books with fluffy wings and harps.

He had news for them, Angels were warriors, not lullubies floating around on cummulus clouds. And Arch Angels like himself were the mightiest. Considering he was the only one of his brothers besides the low-ranking Castiel even down here on Earth trying to make any sort of difference during this war, he decided that he deserved a little bit of playtime. Most humans didn't even know the apocalypse was upon them so that difiantly didn't stop them from their wicked ways.

The college kids for example. They figured a good way to earn some booze money was by holding rabid dog fights in their fraturnity basement. They'd trained a Pit Bull and an Rottweiler to be aggressive through months of abuse and adopted poor, weak dogs from nearby animal shelters to throw into the middle of a jeering crowd to fight for it's life against the trained killers. His dad created dogs to be man's best friends...not for this. A weither his dad was a jackass that had Michael throw Lucifer into Hell and then toke off on their torn apart family, he still respected all of his dad's creations. So he'd lured the boys out into the woods, in groups of 3 or 4 at a time, waiting until they were good and lost, and then summoning Fenrir.

He'd been pretending to be Loki for the past two-thousand years, creating a massive Norse wolf like Fenrir came easier than anything else he'd ever manipulated out of thin air. The apperance of the god-like wolf had sent the kids into a panic, screaming and running for their lives the same way the dogs they'd thrown into their basements were. He could have sworn more than once they called Fenrir 'Jacob Black'...whatever that meant.

Unfortuntly a few escaped to describe Fenrir...which had lead the hunter here along with the evidence of the attacked victims. A town like Wilmington was a historic beach town that barely had foxes much less ginormous wolves frolicing around tearing people to shreads.

His mind wandered back to Sam and Dean. He should really probably get back to them. He'd been gone more than a couple of days and when he's absent for too long Dean starts to get nervous and suspicious that he's out there killing people. And he's right of course, but it'd best to avoid the famous Winchester's wrath.

His mind wandered to Sam in particular who was probably sitting up late on his laptop and needed a good hot chocolate topped with lots of whipped cream and a shoulder massage right about now. He smirked to himself before vanishing into thin air, the only sound was the soft flutter of invisible wings taking flight.

Back in Wilmington still, Phil checked his equipment and arsonal in the trunk of his Nissan XTerra. Under one arm he held several manilla folders with different case reports leading to the Trickster that held several photographs as well as any information he could get out of all the hunters in the bar that had gone up against the creature. It unnerved him a bit how powerful this thing was, but Phil had never yet lost a hunt and he wasn't about to start now. He slammed the trunk shut and walked around the SUV, yanking open the drivers side door and tossing the folders across into the passenger side seat.

End Chapter 1


	2. A moment to breathe

Chapter 2: A Moment to Breathe

In a small town outside of Phoenix, Arizona, a classic Chevy Impala sat outside a run-down hotel with the morning desert sun dancing and gleaming off its black exterior. The hotel's red shutters were peeling paint and weeds sprouted up out of the cracks in the sidewalk, but inside the air-conditioner pumped cool air into the humid room where the Winchesters worked, cleaning up after a successful hunt.

Dean sat on the edge of the bed closest to the door, the red plaid curtains drawn shut to drown out the intruding light and to avoid worried neighbors from taking a peek at the arsenal he had set up around him as he carefully smoothed a rag over a freshly sharpened knives' blade. Holding it up to the dim interior lighting above him he admired his work for a split second before setting it down and moving onto his machete.

On the queen bed beside him, his little brother Sam sat propped up against the pale yellow headboard, the red and brown striped comforter was completely discarded in the current heat and laid on the floor between the two beds. His dark hair was tucked behind his ears, revealing hazel eyes that were currently scanning over the screen of his laptop, mentally digesting information leading to a new hunt in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois.

He bit his bottom lip, glancing to his older brother on the opposite bed. Dean's green eyes never left his weaponry as he maintained it so his glance went unnoticed at the moment. Tapping his fingers against the frame of his laptop he stared at the screen, debating bringing the hunt up to Dean.

It was definite something to hunt. Something in Chicago was taking people and only leaving behind splattered remains and smears of blood. Previous to the cannibalistic encounters, the city had been host to a train of grave robbing incident where they'd find graves dug up, bodies missing with only broken bones laying here and there. Everything pointed to a messy Ghoul who had stepped up its game from dead flesh to fresh blood.

As much as Sam knew Dean would want something supernatural to hunt and rip apart to take his mind off of the whole world-coming-to-an-end issue they were facing, he wasn't sure this would be the hunt for them. For one, the last time they had been to Chicago, they had been lured there by the demon Meg as a trap for their father. Innocent civilians who had been born in Lawrence, Kansas were ripped apart by the animalistic Zoroastrian shadow demons, Daevas, who were being controlled by Meg. When their father had gotten close to cornering Azazel and got a lead on the Colt, Meg stepped up her game to set up an elaborate trap to capture Sam and Dean to gain leverage over John, which would have lead to his untimely death if they hadn't managed to escape. But they were trailed back to their motel where their father waited for them and the moment of realization that their own father wasn't safe around them and they'd almost gotten him killed still burned in Sam's mind when he remembered that Meg and the Daevas had followed them back as well. And he was sure it still lingered in Deans, if not more since he still felt responsible for his father's final death.

And the last time they'd encountered a Ghoul, it had been in the form of the half-brother they never knew they'd had, Adam Milligan. Although Dean had bashed the creatures head into a bloody pulp, he didn't want to be reminded of the encounter that left Sam struggling on the brink of death, bloody and tied to a sacrificial kitchen table. Not to mention the both of them were still harboring a silent grudge against their late father for the secrets he had kept from them such as Adam, or the darkened secrets he had kept from Adam that lead to him and his mother being murdered by Ghouls.

All and all, this hunt would bring up at least two unpleasant memories for Dean which would lead to an uncomforbly quiet car ride, a recklessly angered hunt, and probably a bitter argument or two between the brothers. He quietly debated searching for a different hunt. He hated the idea of leaving innocents to die at the hands of the Ghoul but in all honesty, the apocalypse was upon them. Dozens of people were dying left, right and all around and although the guilt of setting Lucifer free also weighed down on him that was responsible for all those deaths, Sam wanted to choose whatever he could that would keep his older brother closer to him in what could be their final moments on Earth.

He fiddled through the cloth of his t-shirt, feeling the small amulet that he wore underneath. The amulet that Sam had given Dean a Christmas many years ago when they were younger and their dad was away on a hunt. The amulet that Dean faithfully wore everyday for over 17 years until Castiel had borrowed it to find God. The amulet that had been abandoned discarded and judged as worthless before being dropped into a trash can. The sound it had made as it hit the bottom of the tin can broke Sam's heart, his mind registering what the sound meant. That Dean no longer cared about it, or about Sam. But Sam hadn't been able to leave it there, forcing himself to scoop it out seconds after Dean closed the door and slip it on over his own neck, bringing back horrible memories of when he wore it after Dean had been dragged to hell. Then he had salvaged it from Dean's ripped apart body to keep a part of his brother close to him. Now, he hid it under his shirt to keep a part of the close relationship he used to share with his brother. When Dean returned from Hell he gratefully accepted it back, restoring it back around his own neck where it belonged. Hopefully, when - if - they came out of this war alive, he'd once again accept it back.

A soft gust of wind fluttered through the room and the silent sound of invisible wings as Sam felt something appear behind him on the bed, shoving his torso forward to make room for itself in-between him and the headboard.

"There's a whole rest of the bed you could sit on Gabriel." Sam looked back over his shoulder, irritated at the dark ginger haired angel that was instantly behind him.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow in what was probably an attempt at pouting. "But I like it here."

"Fine." Sam grumbled and made a move to scoot to the other side of the bed when warm arms wrapped around his waist holding him still.

"And I like you here too. Did I say you could move?"

Sam glared at a spot on the wall, a hundred curses and retorts flowing through his mind that he bit back as his upper lip twitched. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dean wave two fingers at Gabriel and mumble something of a 'hello' without taking his eyes off his cleaning project.

Dean's half-assed greeting was immensely better than a couple of months ago when he'd break something every time he turned around and saw the fake Trickster's smirking face. And his aversion of his green eyes was much better than the death glares that Sam usually felt burning holes in the back of his head. The brothers had long since stopped arguing about the Arch Angel's presence and Dean has slowly come to tolerate Gabriel being around them so often, even if he'd probably never accept what he did with his little brother behind closed doors. Sometimes open doors. Sometimes with Dean on the other bed slowly turning the volume on the TV louder and louder to drown them out until the neighbors banged on the walls complaining of the noise.

Sam sighed. To be honest, he was probably a terrible boyfriend. He hadn't even attempted to keep track of how long him and Gabriel had been dating. If they were even dating...could Arch Angel's date? Is that in the un-translated Bible somewhere? Mental images of sitting at a Thanksgiving table with Raphael while Michael cut the turkey with his flaming sword popped into his head and he quickly shook it back out. Sometimes he still couldn't believe he'd gotten into this relationship somehow.

"Thinking about Thanksgiving with my family again?" The voice behind him asked and he nodded. "Don't. Micah and Raph always argue and get the mashed potatoes eeeverywhere. It's a mess. Even worse on Christmas though when Mary shows up drunk and screaming about our dad knocking her up." He caught a slight glare from Dean. "Jesus' mom Mary, not yours. Geez, not everything is about you Winchesters, mind your own business."

Dean put down the .45 he was currently disabling. "Mind my own business? You're in our motel room! This is our business. Speaking of which, where the hell have you been the past week? We could have used your finger-snapping help taking down that - that uh...Aztec Shape shifter spirit..."

"The Nahule." Sam filled in for him.

"Yea, the Nazgule."

Sam sighed. "Nahule. Nazgules are what the Wraiths rode on in Lord of the Rings."

Dean snorted "Yea whatever. Nerd."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

Sam rolled his eyes as the usual 'brotherly love' banter he was used to with Dean.

"Anyways, back to the 'where the hell were you' part." Dean swung his legs over in-between the beds to look at Gabriel and then opted for staring at the lamp between their beds instead of watching the angel cuddle his little brother.

Gabriel rolled his olive eyes. "You guys did just fine without me. Like you always have." He dropped a hint at Dean's hunting skills hoping to drive the older hunter off topic and saw Dean slip into a cocky smirk as he mentally complimented his own skills.

Sam turned slightly to face him on the bed, forcing Gabriel to loosen his grip from around his waist. "Yea but you're always complaining about ...you know..." He lowered his voice as Dean raised an eyebrow and went back to cleaning his gun. "Us never having time to be together. Then you just vanish for a week?"

"Weeeeell it is kind of the end of the world Sammy." Using Dean's nickname for Sam earned the angel glares from both brothers. "Since I'm batting for Team Free Will now I figured I'd go do a little something. You know. Angel-business." It wasn't a complete lie. Sure his 'little' something was a 6 foot replica of the Godlike Wolf Fenrir but chances of the Winchesters, or Bobby Singer even , getting wind of that all the way across the states was a minimum chance. Especially since a hunter already thought he'd taken care of the problem. And it technically was angel business since he was an angel and this was his business. His twisted, slightly morbid business but business none the less.

"You could have popped in once in awhile." Sam mumbled, his stubbornness not letting him drop the subject. "Castiel stills comes around every once in awhile and he's not... 'with'...anyone."

"Or is he?" Gabriel smirked and waggled his eyebrows at Dean who looked up from re-assembling his gun and snapped.

"He's NOT." Dean practically growled.

"Fine, fine." Gabriel held up his hands in mock surrender. "But don't blame me when the feathers get out of the bag."

Dean cocked the gun threateningly although he knew bullets wouldn't harm the Arch Angel anymore than jellybeans would. Heck, he'd probably turn the bullets into jellybeans and eat them.

"For the last time you winged ass - I'm straight."

"You know, people used to think the Earth was straight too. And boooy were they wrong." Gabriel remarked back watching Dean fight back his frustration.

"Come on Gabe, chill. We've got enough on our plates at the moment without your homosexual commentary."

"Pfft, what've you got on your plates?" Gabriel leaned past Sam before he had a chance to catch him and clicked on his laptop. "Ooooh sounds like Ghouls in Chicago. Neat."

Sam mentally slapped himself for not closing the laptop when Dean hesitantly perked up on the other bed.

"Ghouls? In Chicago?" He stood up and flipped the laptop around to where he could see the screen. He looked up and fixed his little brother with a 'when were you going to tell me about this?' stare.

Sam shrugged and ran his fingers through his long hair trying to seem nonchalant. "I found it right before Gabriel showed up." Feeling slightly guilty as Gabriel shifted beside him, knowing that he'd re-directed Dean's irritation right back to his angel once again.

Dean straightened up, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he looked down at the weapons lying on his bed. Thoughts of Meg, his father, and Adam clearly running through his mind before he turned back to Gabriel.

"I don't get it. You're so almighty - why don't you just poof to Chicago and snap these sonsovbitches into oblivion?" He asked.

"Because that'd take all the adventure out of your life and you'd just sit around getting fat and lazy." Gabriel responded.

Dean and Gabriel stared down each other before Sam shoved Gabriel off the bed just to break eye contact before anything escalated into broken bones or holy fire. Instead of hitting the floor with an oof however, he merely reappeared on the foot of the bed, legs crossed.

"That wasn't nice."

"Yeah, well you never play nice so it's even." Dean answered for Sam and ducked the pillow the younger hunter threw at his head.

"I was trying to break you guys up - not start a new fight!" Sam sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed as Dean picked up a sawed off shotgun to clean the salt out of and Gabriel pretended to have a great interest in the imaginary dirt under his fingernails. In the past week that the trickster angel had been absent he'd almost forgotten how tiresome it was to keep him and Dean from verbally clawing at each other's throats and momentarily wondered if this was how Dean had always felt in-between him and their dad. This was probably his punishment for starting so many fights with his dad and God was sitting back watching the whole thing and laughing at having flipped the tables on him.

"Gabriel? Are you here because your dad likes torturing me?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

*SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN*

A black Nissan Xterra pulled up at a gas station outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Phil jumped out of the driver's seat, letting the southern wind ruffle his dark brown hair, reminding him to get a haircut soon. He needed to trim back the graying sideburns while he was at it, the last thing he needed was for some supernatural sonovabitch to get the idea that he was too old for this job. Then again, they could think what they wanted about his age. And he'd prove to them that age was just a number before he sent their asses back to Hell.

He'd been calling every hunter contact he knew, picking up more small information about the Trickster to add to his growing collection that sat in the passenger seat of his vehicle. Some of it old, some of it new, some of it probably completes bullshit. But all of it was one step closer to ending its unnatural life. For good.

His phone rang as he started pumping gas and he reached through the open window to grab it from the dashboard. Checking the caller ID, he flipped it open and put it to his ear, maneuvering the small plastic between his shoulder and head as he slid a fake credit card through the payment reader.

"Hey Luke, what's up?"

The slightly static voice of his old hunting buddy Luke slid through the phone sounding un-nerved.

"Hey Phil...I uh, I just ran into some old friends. They uh, they told me some things."

"About the Trickster?" Phil asked, clicking down the hold on the gas nozzle so he could hold his phone with a hand again and leaned back against his SUV.

"Nah, no, sorry, haven't got anything about that. But the Winchesters...Sam Winchester..."

Phil nodded, not sure why since his friend couldn't see him through the phone. "Yea. I heard they're the ones that got Ellen Harvelle and her daughter killed."

There was a slight pause on the other end and Phil could almost see Luke struggling with his words. "Well yea, there's that...but there's something else."

"Like what?"

"Like demon blood."

Phil stopped pumping, his full attention on the current phone conversation.

"What about demon blood?"

He could hear Luke shifting around through the line. "I ran into an old friend awhile back but I figured he just nuts. Worked with one of Gordon Walker's friends to track Sam Winchester down. I mean, even he said Gordon and his friend were nuts and all they ended up doing was tying up a poor hunter kid because he had the world's worst luck. But he said that Gordon said Sam had demon blood IN him. And he was going to lead a demon army."

"Yea well we all know Gordon is obsessive. Did he have any proof?"

"No."

Phil nodded and placed the gas nozzle back on the machine, getting back behind the wheel of the Nissan.

"But I ran into some other friends...recently." Luke continued. "They said Bobby Singer sent them on a hunt...there were some demonic omens he wanted them to take care of but for some reason Sam was nearby and wouldn't help out. Said he was done with hunting. So...they found the demons, right? But the demons turned their friend into road kill and they toke off. Not before they found out something pretty interesting..."

Phil paused letting the keys just rest in the ignition. "Go on..."

"Sam Winchester started the apocalypse Phil. I know it sounds crazy but look around. All the electrical storms, crop failures, the unsolved murders multiplying...this is the apocalypse. Here and now. Because Sam Winchester set Lucifer free."

Phil rolled his eyes. "You expect me to believe in Lucifer? Who are these guys that told you this shit? I want names."

Luke cut him off. "You fight demons everyday...why not believe in the one that created them? Lucifer is real Phil. This is REALLY happening. Lucifer, demons, angels, the whole shebang. And you wanna know how Sam started it?"

Phil sighed. "Sure. Humor me."

"By drinking demon blood."

He rubbed his eyes, blinking away the spots as he started the SUV and listened to the serious silence on Luke's end of the phone. "He drank demon blood? Why would a human drink demon- HOW would a human even get a hold of demon blood?"

"I know, I know, I know I sound insane Phil but you gotta believe me." Luke stammered over himself, desperation leaking into his voice. "I don't know why or how, all I know is he was hooking up with some demon whore and drinking her blood cause it - it gave him these powers...these weird powers that he used to free Lucifer."

The black vehicle pulled out onto the highway and Phil drummed his fingers against his steering wheel. "Ok Luke, ok, I believe you. Good night then." He said sarcastically and hung up the phone quickly before his friend could respond and dropped it onto the seat next to him, ignoring it as Luke called back.

"Leave a voicemail ya loony..." He murmured to the phone. He wasn't a fan of the Winchesters. He hadn't liked John from the second he saw him, and when he saw the little tykes he towed around he knew they'd end up just like him. He'd never actually met Dean or Sam when they grew up and started their own hunting careers, but he'd heard the stories. The stories hunters gossiped to each other about them evading and escaping the FBI over and over again, Wendigos, Strigas, and some less honorable things such as letting vampires go and getting on Gordon's bad side which explained why Gordon would have sent two hunters off their rockers after the boys. But spreading rumors about something as serious as the youngest Winchester having demon blood and leading a dark army went a bit extreme, even for Gordon.

He looked out the window at the dark sky, watching lightning flash far off in the distance. There had been a lot more demonic omens lately...but Gordon had gone missing years ago. Rumor had it that some vampires had finally gotten the best of him and Phil wasn't surprised at the lack of sympathy he felt for the fellow hunter. So if Gordon was gone, who was starting these new rumors about the apocalypse and Sam? He eased his SUV to the side of the road, coming to a stop so he could sit a moment with his thoughts. The signs were all around him but, what did they mean? He sighed and picked back up his phone, scrolling through his phone book. He was going to need to make some more calls and ask some different questions. It looked like it was going to be a long night for him and by the end of it he may have more than just the Trickster he needed to hunt down.

*SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN*

Dean had finished cleaning and re-assembling the weapons, stashing them safely back into the hidden compartment inside the Impala's trunk. He now laid snoring with one leg thrown outside of the sheets on the bed closest to the window, his comforter joined Sam's in the pile in-between the bed since it was entirely too hot in Arizona for blankets, even with the AC running.

Sam had closed his laptop after relunctuntly agreeing with Dean to go on the hunt in Chicago. It was across the room sitting on top of the TV that flickered images across it, the sound quietly still playing over the speakers since Dean had fallen asleep watching TV, and tried to not wake Sam who pretty much passed out as soon as he'd gotten out of the shower. His still wet hair slightly dampened the pillow that Gabriel was leaning against as he sat up against the headboard watching the brothers sleep and the older man on the TV as he spun a brightly colored wheel so the show contestants could guess letters to spell out words on a giant green, glittery screen.

Sam was breathing softly, one arm slung across Gabriel's waist and his face nuzzled into the side of the angel's chest so he could feel his breath ever so slightly every time he exhaled. In the silence of the night, he closed his own olive eyes, letting his mind drift off to do a bit of his own research for a new hunt.

Knowing all about Dean's aggression towards ghouls and both brothers' reluctance to return to Chicago anytime in their lives, he probably wouldn't have long for whatever he planned to do. It'd be a get in, do it quick and leave quicker job for them. And they were already clearly suspicious as to where he kept vanishing to for days at a time. Sure, he could easily help them on their hunts. But if he did that he'd never have any free time to himself to do his own hunting. And there were human monsters out there as well that needed to put out of existence as much as any other monster that lurked in the dark.

He zoned in on a man in Washington State and sighed. When dad said he wasn't making humans perfect he wasn't kidding. He just hoped Washington would be far enough from Illinois to keep his tricks under the Winchester's Supernatural Bullshit Radar.

He debated leaving instantly to get an early start but looked down at Sam's sleeping form and hesitated. Running his fingers through the human's dark curls he leaned closer and changed his mind. He'd leave in the morning after he got to see those pretty hazel eyes open again. And maybe after he got to annoy Dean a bit in his beloved car.

End Chapter 2


	3. List of Sins

Chapter 3: List of Sins

Gabriel landed back in the hotel room he had left earlier that morning with a soft touch down to the worn carpet that was barely noticeable aside from his pressence flickering into existance where thin air once was.

"Gabriel."

The arch angel let out a long sigh. He reconized that deep voice and he reconized the snarky tone that it was currently using. Dean Winchester. And from the sounds of it, he had an issue. He spun around to face the hunter, preparing himself for what he was sure wasn't going to be a pleasent coffee conversation.

"Dean." He slid his smirk into place. No sense in letting his charm drop after all. Even if he was wasting it on a human who no longer let his games trick him and didn't give a rats ass about his holyness.

Dean stood up from the bed and Gabriel was a bit relived to see him leave the .45 he had been polishing on the matress. At least there wouldn't be any death threats this time around. At least none that were being backed with a gun anyways.

Dean saw him eyeing the gun and scoffed. "Even if I did shoot you, it's not like it'd hurt you."

"It'd hurt my feelings." Gabriel stated and tried his best to look hurt and imitate Sam's wounded puppy expression but he couldn't help but let the smirk slide wider across his features.

"Anyways," Dean continued, "I know I seem to be asking this alot but, hey, why the hell stop now?" He leveled the angel infront of him with a stern glare and Gabriel met his gaze back and unwavering. "Where were you?"

He had to give the kid guts. He kept a close tab on everything Supernatural, especially him considering Dean knew first hand what kind of damage Gaberiel could wreck on the world. He should have laid lower after he'd already taken a leave of abscence and gotten the hunter's intrest in his disapperance peaked but hey, he was the Trickster. He could change alot of things with the snap of a finger, but he wouldn't change himself of how he handled things even if he could.

It had taken him a long time to get where he was today. When he had first ran away from heaven he was frightened of being on earth among these imperfect beings, much less inhabiting one of their foreign bodies. He'd tried so hard to be the good angel his father had created him to be but as time went on he found himself thinking more and more about Lucifer's disobeyal. He watched the humans, he saved a few of them, helped dozens, but he couldn't help but wonder...why were they so special? Why did they deserve to be served by such powerful beings as the angels? Why were they worth his little brother being locked in hell?

And he couldn't come up with one single answer.

Then he'd met the Norse gods. The powerful creatures with human apperances that the mortals bowed down before and worshipped devotingly. To say Odin and Thor were distant and mistrustful was an understatement. They didn't know what he was, but they knew he was stronger than them, even with their sacrafices giving them immortal power. And Baulder straight up hated his angelic guts.

So he'd hunted down Loki. One mischevious Norse God wasn't hard to take out for someone with his abilities. Loki was cocky and over-confident in his own abilities. One wrong move and the fight was over quickly. He copied Loki's snarky attitude and carefree grins and when he was finally able to formally approach the Gods, his act was more than convincing enough that he was the real deal.

Odin knew he wasn't the real Loki, but the elder God never asked him a single question of his true orgins. He sheilded him from his own sons, taught him the way of Earth and became somewhat of a surrogate father to the run away angel. His cold blooded eyes held a sparkle that Gabriel liked and he let the human sacrafices slip past his attention, secretly making sure that they were only being offered the blood of those humans who had sinned.

Then slowly, Gabriel turned to sin himself.

First it was wrath. As calm as Gabriel tried to remain while helping the innocent humans, rage built up inside of his vessel's body more and more as he was forced to watch corrupted humans steal, rape and murder as he stood by, watched, and did nothing.

He remembered the day he snapped clear as a sunny sky. He remembered the darkness chilling the air around him and how he smelled the blood before he heard the wimpers. He found the girl laying in the street, her limbs curled inwards around herself as she choked on her own blood, her dirty hair strewn across her beaten and bloody face and he could sense the second fading heartbeat within her, the tiny fetus that hadn't had a chance of being born.

And then he saw the man that he done it, wiping his knife on her apron he'd taken off as he smiled to himself, no doubt feeling relived and satisfyed with himself that he wouldn't have to bear the responsibility of being the father of a whore's child and no one in the town would have to find out that someone with such a high rank in society as him had cheated on his wife with such lowly filth.

There were no tricks the first time. No lessons to be taught. The blood dripping from the girls body as she toke her last breaths flooded his vision as he felt his own bloody burn inside him, his limbs shaking with an uncontrolable rage. He pulse thundered in his ears and he appeared next to the man, his eyes barely being able to show surprise before his head was bashed into the wall beside him, breaking and splattering parts across the dirt and stone building as if someone had shoved a bomb inside of his head and let it go off. His lifeless body dropped to the ground instantly.

Gabriel must have spent hours standing in that street. Looking at what he had done. The life he had taken out of anger. The sheer bloody violence he had displayed.

And it had felt good.

And he didn't regret it.

And he would do it again in a heartbeat.

However, not all humans were so corrupt they couldn't be put back on the right path with a few tricks and curves thrown at them. And over the years Gabriel learned to hone those abilities with patience as well.

Next came Lust.

Gabriel watched the humans. Alot. All day, every day. He watched them wake in the morning, work in the feilds, pray to the alters, and shop in the market.

But he also watched them shower and bathe. And make love to each other.

Foreign intrest in how his father made these humans able to re-produce by themselves soon turned into plain and simple fasination of the naked human body. The noises they'd make of pleasure when they coupled together, and sometimes the estatic screams. Their slick bodies and passionate kisses.

And then he'd witnissed the Gods and Goddesses going at it. He bit back a groan as he wondered why it seemed like everyone was allowed to have this simple sinned pleasure except for him. Why weren't angels allowed to do this? Sure in heaven it was because they didn't need to reproduce, and more importantly because they were, as Dean put so elegantly, 'junk-less.' But here he stood on Earth now, in a vessel's human body with parts that were more than accominating and responding to the need to relieve himself.

After all, he'd already sinned with wrath. What could lust hurt?

In the end it was that damned Freya's fault. Go figure, if anyone could turn an angel to lust, it'd be the Norse goddess of love and sexuality. Her long auburn curls and pale skin still haunted his daydreams sometimes at night when he was alone outside and he could smell the damp grass all around him, reminding him of their passion under these very stars only two-thousand years ago.

Pride came quickly after Lust.

And thats when Gabriel got scared.

The second he looked at a human and thought 'what does it matter? I'm better than them.', he dropped everything and ran. He ran back to Valhelm and hid with Odin who said nothing, but gave him gentle, understanding glances and shooed Thor away from him.

Pride was what had gotten Lucifer thrown into hell. The memory of Michael branishing his flamed sword at the younger angel still burned painfully in his mind, as painful as Raphael's arms gripped around him as he held him back from interffering, forcing him to watch Lucifer fall at his older brother's hands, at his fathers orders.

He had sinned wrath and lust, but what if pride was the final straw? What if Michael came down here himself and locked him away with Lucifer? Lucifer had been father's favorite, and he threw him away without a second's hesitation. There'd be no hope for Gabriel if the order passed for his own demise.

But days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. He watched the Gods and Goddesses come and go, sacrafice and smite as they pleased. He watched the world turn into a new era as Christianity came to light and he came to realize he had nothing to fear. His father, his brothers, his family...they didn't care what he did anymore. When he had run away, he had ditched his identity and they went along with it. The old Gabriel that had lived in heaven with them was dead. Leaving only the new Loki on Earth.

He had every right to be prideful; after all, he WAS better than these humans. He was older, stronger, and smarter. And since he was better than them, it was time he re-toke his place among them to protect them from themselves.

Over the years he perfected his swagger, his lessons and his deadly jokes and games. He grew a love for anything with sugar in it, and sometimes even sweet fruit. The world continued to turn and evolve into the modern world you see around you today, and finally, he experienced Envy and Greed all rolled into one ball at the same time.

He'd been tormenting the Winchesters for years and he was teetering on the edge of Team Free Will when he finally crossed the line.

He was in a bar in Utah. Who knows where in Utah, he'd just zoned in on the Winchester's aura and found himself in this dimly lit wooden infestation. He resisted getting himself a Martini as he figured this wasn't the kind of place that would serve those and he didn't want to draw attention to himself over the loud cracks of pool balls hitting against one another and the glass breaking of beer bottles being thrown into the trash cans.

Dean Winchester had one of his hands burried in a girls dark curls, his other buried, well, it wasn't visible and wasn't that why girls wore skirts to these places anyways?

He rolled his eyes and sought out the younger Winchester, Sam. Sam was especially fun to torment but he wasn't expecting to find the tall hunter pinned in a dark corner with another man pinned up against him sucking on his neck.

His eyes flickered to Dean wondering if he knew what was going on with his little brother as he felt the fire burst inside of him, gnawing at his insides. He didn't reconize the sensation he was feeling, he didn't know what was going on, all he knew was that he wanted that man off of his Sam immediatly. Wait...his Sam? That was weird, when did Sam become his?

He shook his head as the man lifted his head to Sam's, letting their lips brush together and Gabriel snapped. The instant, this second, was when Sam became his. And he'd be damned if he was letting someone else touch his property.

That night Sam found himself sitting biwildered and quite ticked off on a velvet green couch while Gabriel sat on the roof trying to figure out what the hell had just come over him to make him kidnap a human hunter spur of the moment. It wouldn't be the last time however that Gabriel acted out on his urges and Sam would find himself trapped on that couch for the next 24-48 hours.

It had taken centuries, but he had finally broken away from the good little soldier angel his father created, and became who he truley was. A happy, tricky, damned sonnovabitch fighting on the human's side inbetween two of his brothers power struggle over his dad's toys.

And now here he was. After months of deliberate flirting and coaxing, he had relaxed and charmed Sam into being with him and now he was standing in a run down motel room, not even trying to come up with a lie to give Dean about where he was this morning.

So instead he just shrugged and let two cups of coffee appear, holding one out to Dean. "Would you believe I went to get coffee?"

Dean accepted his cup, looking at it carefully as if he was expecting it to be pudding instead or for the loch ness monster to pop out. Sure, he had good reason for those thoughts, but Gabriel could at least pretend to be offended.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Phil hung up his phone and tossed it onto the dashboard. He didn't even bother to start back up his SUV, he knew that once he started making good time again it'd just ring again and force him to pull over so he could take new notes.

Most of the hunters that had called him back insisted that the Winchester family merely had the worst run of luck imaginable and a bad case of wrong place wrong time throughout the years.

But enough of them had voiced concerns about the rumors about Sam Winchester that were floating around that this was no longer a situation that Phil could ignore.

Psychic dreams, psychic powers, demon blood, the Devil's Gates, Steve Wandell and now apparently the rising of Lucifer the prince of darkness himself all circled back to Sam Winchester.

He wasn't willing to believe in any of it. He didn't believe in angels at all, much less Lucifer but there was no denying that the world was going to shit around him. The apocalyse part he could easily believe. But what caused the apocalypse? Phil wasn't exactly a church going guy, he'd given up on the idea of God long ago when his family had been ripped from him in one terrifying life changing night.

His phone beeped again, this time a simple text and he checked it, seeing a town in Washington illuminated on the bright screen and the name of a man. He put the phone down once again and started his vehicle, driving with purpose to the closest town so he could get an internet connection and check out why his friend had given him that information.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

"Don't try and distract me with coffee." Dean continued, glaring down the trickster infront of him.

"Coffee is a distraction? How so?" Gabriel countered, coffee may not be a distraction but a conversation about how coffee wasn't a distraction was a distraction.

Or maybe not, he thought bitterly as Dean shook his head, clearly not easily side-tracked by the angel's tricks anymore. He'd been around these humans too long, they were catching onto his games and becoming level playing partners.

"Got a call from Bobby. 6 foot wolves in North Carolina ring any bells for you?"

Gabriel lifted his olive eyes to the ceiling, mocking pondering. "Sounds like something that someone should go take care of."

"Yea..someone did. Some hunter named Phil killed a thing called a Trickster that was behind it." Gabriel mentally cringed as Dean's green eyes bore into him but didn't let anything show on the outside, looking like he was merely bored of the conversation.

"You don't say..."

"I do say. What the HELL were you thinking? I thought you were on our team now, which, sorry I didn't get you a handbook, but one of the rules is that you DON'T go around killing people for shits and giggles anymore!" Dean's voice rose almost to a shout, his voice deep in a militaristic growl.

"I get a handbook?"

Dean opened his mouth to continue his argument but Gabriel was thankfully saved as Sam choose that time to come back through the door with a bag of lunch that smelled not surprisingly like burgers and fries. Didn't these guys eat anything else?

Dean shut his mouth, giving Gabriel one last departing glare before turning his mouth. For whatever reasons, the older hunter was apparently choosing to not share Gabriel's extra-ciricular activities with his little brother. And that personally didn't bother Gabe at all. Sam would freak out just like Dean had, but where the angel could handle Dean's smart ass remarks and anger, he couldn't take Sam's betrayed puppy dog eyes and accusatory questions.

Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple started playing and Dean leaned over from his bed to grab his phone off the table between the two beds.

"Hey Bobby what's up." He spoke into the phone, holding the device between his shoulder and ear as he unwrapped a bacon cheeseburger with his free hands.

Sam sat down against the headboard of his own bed, giving Gabriel a small smile as the angel scooted over next to him. It must have been starting to rain outside. He could feel the slight dampness of Sam's clothes next to him and smell the fresh water scent clinging to his hair.

"Washington you say..."

Gabriel closed his eyes and toke a deep breath as he felt Dean's suspicious eyes on him once again. Aw come on dad, he thought, I know you hate me and all but give me a break here. And damn Bobby Singer, everyone knows your an amazing hunter and researcher but how was it that the old mechanic was able to so easily track all of the arch angel's actions?

Dean snapped his phone shut and tosses it beside him on the bed, eating in silence but Gabriel could feel the tension in the air and could practically feel the cold fury raditating off of the short haired human in waves like poison.

Sam seemed to sense the tension as well as his hazel eyes darted back and forth between his brother and his supernatural lover, tucking his long brown hair behind one of his ears out of nervous habit. Sam had such a habit of playing with his long hair, Gabriel wondered how on earth the young hunter had ever survived when he had short hair.

"What did Bobby want?" Sam asked Dean.

Gabriel wanted to shove Sam off the bed. Don't ask stupid questions. Well, more importantly, don't ask questions that are going to get me in trouble.

"Just letting me know about a hunt in Washington...sounds like someone's already taken care of it though..." Dean casually lied to his brother and Gabriel didn't fully understand why he seemed to be protecting him.

"So we're still going to Chicago?" Sam asked, and Dean nodded. "Kay, lemme just go get the maps out of the car and i'll get started on the directions." He stood, stretching out his tall body, letting the tips of his fingers almost brush the ceiling.

Dean waited for the door to close before letting his eyes snap to the angel's form on the opposite bed. Oh boy, here we go again, Gabriel thought, crossing his arms.

Instead Dean sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, looking down at the floor.

"It's because he's whiny."

Gabriel lifted an eyebrow.

"Say what?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "He's whiny. If I tell him your out there murdering people again he's just going to whine."

"I don't consider it murder..." Gabriel started slowly, not really wanting to try and explain his thought process or reasoning behind why he did the things he did.

"Well I do. He does. All hunters do. Why do you think people like putting stakes through your feathered ass?"

"Because their intimidated by my perfection?" Gabriel smirked.

"Yea...about that...wasn't pride what got your brother thrown into hell in the first place?" Dean spat back out, knowing his words sent an involuntary flinch through Gabriel's heart. "And now that we're being serious," He gave Gabriel a sarcastic smile, "The only reason I didn't tell Sam is because I don't want him moping around because of you. I'm not going to lie to my little brother again. Especially not for you. So get your act together if you want to stay around, 'cause let me tell you, whatever holy almighty charm you may think you have isn't enough to keep Sam from leaving you if he finds out your still the same old trickster asshole. He's not going to stay with someone with blood on their hands."

With that Dean got up and walked into the bathroom as the door to their room re-opened, reveling Sam holding a map. His eyes tracked his older brother's back into the bathroom, suspicious for a second but shrugging it off as the sound of the shower turned on, breaking the uneasy silence.

Gabriel flopped over on the bed, burying his face in Sam's pillow and taking in the scent of his honey conditioner. Dean had finally voiced aloud what a voice inside Gabriel had been whispering for a long time...that Sam would kick him to the curb if he found out about Gabriel continuing his lethal games with humans. A small part inside of him had hoped and convinced himself that Sammy would understand his reasons if he found out and overlook his actions because he loved him...but now that Dean had put everything out in the open...he knew that wasn't true. Sam was a hunter, and not one of the savage kind, but one of the gentle ones. He knew a part of Sam died everytime he was unable to save someone from something supernatural and Gabriel bitterly wondered how much of Sam was dead because of him. He knew he had a good six months that he'd never be forgiven for already. Six months that Gabriel had killed Dean, and left Sam compleatly dead and devoid of emotions on the inside until he cried and begged for his brother back.

And at the sight of his tears, how could Gabriel say no? He had faltered back then, the large human crying had defently not been something he was expecting. Anger, violence, but not a compleatly broken human shattering before his eyes. He'd made some snarky comment and excuse back then about how it'd gotten boring anyways but deep down he knew that was the day he'd started falling in love with Sam.

Funny how just earlier he was thinking back about how he became who he was now, and how nothing would change that. Now he was realizing that he could no longer be Loki, the norse god whose idenity he had assumed with the help of Odin. It wasn't in his blood to kill humans. He'd never be the angelic soldier his dad had created him to be, that Michael and Raphael were, but it was time to strap his wings back on and step up to the batting plate of a new game. The old Gabriel was dead, now Loki was dead as well. It was time for the new Gabriel to be born, rising from the ashes of this apocalypse.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Phil sat infront of a computer, scrolling over the morbid images of a man who had been half eaten alive by some sort of creature that was yet to be identified or found. However, upon his autospy, peices of human flesh were found in his own stomach contents and a search of his own had reveleved him to be the murdered of a 6 year old girl who had gone missing a week ago. More disgusting and distrubing, his freezer in the basement reveleved that instead of burying the girl's body, he hadn't let her 'go to waste' and had been eating her.

Phil's stomach churned. Part of him was glad a man like that was out of this world, but at the same time he knew what this pattern meant.

The trickster.

He was getting closer to catching up with that slippery bastard and he'd be ready with more than a stake this time.

End of chapter 3

I know, sorry theres not alot of Sam/Gabe this chapter but I wanted to flesh out my version of Gabriel's past and him and Dean's relationship alittle more before I continued.


	4. Absolute Beginners

Chapter 4: Absolute Beginners

Gabriel sat in the backseat of the Impala on the edge of the seat, leaning forward with his arms folded around Sam in front of him in the passenger side. His chin rested the worn leather giving him a strong whiff of the texture and the faint lingering smell of metallic blood stains that neither of the humans could probably pick up with their weak senses.

"What's taking Dean so long? I don't even understand how you humans need to eat so much." He grumbled, his olive eyes flickering to the door of the convenience store they had stopped by to grab some lunch, waiting for Dean to walk through them any second now so they could get back on the road.

Usually he wouldn't be hanging around doing nothing while the Winchester brothers traveled from state to state; he'd be off doing his own thing. But ever since Dean had found out about his little extra-curricular activities, he'd been put on 'probation', and had to stay where Dean or Sam knew where he was at all times.

Pfft, an Arch Angel on probation. As if. No one controlled him or made him do anything and it'd be easier than snapping his fingers to make a clone of himself to wander around wasting time on the trip to Chicago while he went off and made the world a better place by eliminating one scumbag at a time. But for the time being, he'd decided to try turning over a new leaf, becoming a new being that was neither Gabriel or Loki so it was easier to just let Dean think he was getting his way.

So what did that make Gabriel now? Gabeki? Lokriel? Frank?

Sam rolled his eyes. "Because humans don't have supernatural metabolisms and we'll die if we don't eat."

"But still? Three times a day? It's ridiculous." He muttered. "On a different note, which do you like better? Gabeki, Lokriel or Frank?"

Sam twisted in his seat to look at Gabriel like he was crazy for a moment. "What?"

"Just out of curiosity." He shrugged, planting an innocent smirk on his lips. "If I were to change my name."

"Why do you need to change your name? I like Gabriel just fine." He turned back around in his seat, stretching his long legs out on the floorboards.

Gabriel jerked his head back as his face was assaulted by Sam's fluffy chocolate hair.

"Heeey watch where you're putting that mop of fluff." He joked and blew on the strands causing Sam to twist back around and swat at him playfully.

"Stop being in my personal space bubble then."

Gabriel easily caught his wrist and leaned forward to whisper in Sam's ear.

"Maybe I like being in your bubble. It's cozy." He nipped gently at the human's neck and let out a purr.

Sam nudged the red-head, nuzzling him to look at up him. Gabriel raised his head and looked up, olive eyes flecked with brown locking onto hazel eyes that seemed more on the green side today. Their lips brushed together and Gabriel felt Sam shudder, a sign that the human could feel his energy pulsing through him at the intimate act.

It'd taken a long time to get to the point where Sam let Gabriel kiss him so easily. Months of poking and prodding him into submission were finally paying off, as the angel leaned into the kiss, pressing his lips firmly to Sam's and he didn't resist or jerk away insisting that they shouldn't be doing this.

To the contrary, he willingly parted his lips, making room for Gabriel to deepen the kiss. Gabriel had never been much of a coffee fan before he met Sam. But after discovering the sweet joys of kissing a human who constantly tasted like coffee, he found himself craving the caffeinated beverage whenever they touched. At least Sam liked his coffees with flavor and whipped creams unlike Dean who preferred his black. The sweet loving angel probably wouldn't be able to take the bitter taste and would have to resort to sneaking sugar packets everywhere.

"Oh for the love of-"

Sam jerked himself out of Gabriel's grasp so quick he almost landed on the floor boards of the classic car as Dean slid into the driver's side with a plastic bag and a look on his face that crossed in-between amusement that his little brother was getting the moves put on him and frustration at who it was he was kissing.

"Can't I leave you kids alone for 5 minutes?" He grumbled as tossed Sam a plastic wrapped sandwich and dug his keys out of his pocket.

"More like 5 hours. What on Earth toke you so long?" Gabriel retorted, bringing him back full circle to the topic he had been complaining about earlier.

Dean chose not to respond about the elderly man that had paid in nickels and dimes in front of him as his baby purred to life and he shifted her into gear, ready for the road again.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Phil was sitting in a motel room in Washington looking over everything he had gathered about the Trickster. Papers, pictures and notes covered the bed and were pinned up to the wall as he paced back and forth trying to find one single thing that hinted at the despicable creature's true identity.

Frustrated, he slammed his hand down on the table by the door, causing his briefcase to fall open and spill its contents all over the floor.

"Great. Just- Just freakin perfect." He muttered to himself as he bent to scoop up the papers that it had contained that his friend Luke had sent him about the whole heaven vs. hell apocalypse. He had faxed them to him a couple of states over in a different motel and Phil hadn't felt the need to look at them yet, as he focused his complete mind and energy on hunting down and killing the Trickster for good.

But now as he scooped up the fallen papers something caught his eye. It was just a few notes that he been pieced together about angels that hunters had run into wandering around with names like Uriel, Castiel, and Zachariah. He rushed to his bed to compare the notes to the Tricksters abilities.

Shape-shifting manipulation, altering reality, erasing memories, teleportation, putting people to sleep with a touch...

"Holy shi..." Phil scrambled to dig his phone out of the mess and quickly called Luke, listening to the phone on the other end ring endlessly.

"Luke. It's Phil. Look, listen to this...what do you think about this theory? That...What if the Trickster is an Angel?"

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Sam leaned back in the Impala to watch the scenery outside flash by. He carefully braced himself to not lean too far back, although Gabriel had been un-characteristically quiet in the backseat for the past half hour. But that was only 30 minutes. Who knew how long the limit was for the talkative angel to keep his lips sealed and that time limit was probably close to being up.

Maybe not though, he thought as he risked a glance in the rear view mirror at the angel that was currently sprawled out in the backseat, his legs crossed across the entire backseat as he leaned his back on the door and crossed his arms across his chest, looking deep in thought. However as soon as Sam peeked back at him, bright olive eyes snapped up and he grinned at catching Sam spy on him and threw him a wink.

Sam swallowed hard and quickly returned his attention out the window. When did that damned angel manage to get him so wrapped up? When did he stop resisting Gabriel's advances?

When he didn't give up and you stopped trying to deny how badly you wanted him to touch you... a little voice inside his head whispered and Sam leaned his head against the window, relaxing into the cool glass on his forehead. There had once been a time that Sam would fall asleep from exhaustion of trying to force the angel out of his bed just to wake up irritated that he was still there. Now it seemed like Sam couldn't fall asleep without olive eyes watching him and the feel of soft fingers running through his hair. He should probably be creeped out but no part of him could keep resisting something that felt so right.

At least he had finally gotten his breathing back under control. Part of why he'd practically jump up and bolt as far from Gabriel as he could get every time he was close was because Sam was scared he couldn't handle that much energy. Gabriel was electrifying- quite literally. Probably just a side-effect of being a powerful creature that harnessed so much energy in its body. But Sam was worried that someday he was going to let him kiss him for too long and end up having a heart attack. After all, it couldn't be that healthy to open your body or mind up to a creature that powerful, could it?

Probably not, but it was well worth it. Sexuality and species be damned, even the slightest touch from Gabriel was better than anything he'd ever felt in his life.

Dean was visibly irritated at Sam's relationship with the creature that had tormented them both so much over the years, if you could even call it a relationship, but he was thankful that his older brother was no longer in a complete rage over it.

Guess when the world is crashing down all around you, you've got to grab what you can that makes you happy and hold on tight. Sam just happened to grab hold of an Arch Angel that was more than willing to let him hold on for the ride.

In the backseat, Gabriel was cursing the thick leather seats that were currently separating him from his lover. He used the term lover quite loosely considering he hadn't been able to get any further than kissing with Sam. Sure he'd gotten close. He could feel Sam's body temperature rise and his breaths come in quick gasps as he shivered and arched his body into Gabriel's touch but then he'd always push away and deny them both what they craved. Some silly human worry about having a heart attack or something. While it was flattering at first that Gabriel could make him feel THAT good, after the 20th or so time it got to be a bit sexually frustrating.

So now here they were. Sam trying to pretend nothing had happened before Dean came back and Gabriel was silently pouting in the back and trying to clear his mind from the heated train of thoughts he'd been having before he jumped over that stupid seat and climbed into Sam's lap to have his way with him wither he liked it or not. Sure Dean might pull over and light him on holy fire for it, but at this point it was worth it. He bit back a groan and looked up just in time to see Sam glance at him in the rearview mirror. He smirked and gave the kid a wink, thriving at flustered look he got out of him before he turned back to the window. Maybe Sam was suffering from this just as much as he was.

The most irritating part was Sam's hair. It was right there, hanging down over his neck, so silky and inviting. It was no secret that one of Gabriel's most recent favorite past times was playing with that hair. Running his hands through it and twirling the brown locks between his fingers. Sometimes gently pulling on it to expose that tanned neck and Adam's apple.

He banged his head backwards onto the window to shake those kinds of thoughts out of his head again which had both the brothers looking back at him.

"Hey! No damaging my windows!" Dean snapped, knuckles gripping the steering wheel and a threat in his green eyes in case anything happened to his precious car.

Sam squeezed his arm in-between the seat and the passenger side door, and maneuvered it backwards past the seat belt. Gabriel smiled softly and relaxed, reaching forward to link the tips of their fingers together for the rest of the trip. It was a small gesture, but something about the slight touch between them calmed the both of them enough for Sam to drift off to sleep and to prevent Gabriel from any future head vs. car window fights.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

"Just stay in the car! What the hell is wrong with you?" Dean threw a glare at the ginger headed angel beside him that was doing it's best to look completely innocent.

"But Dean." He mocked confusion in his voice. "I'm on probation...you can't see me in the car."

"I swear to-"

"Swear to what? My dad?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow and cut off Dean's angry response as the door swung open to the house they were visiting.

A woman had reported seeing the flesh-eating ghoul raiding the graveyard the last week so after unpacking their things at the hotel they had decided to go by her house first thing to get her account of the details.

A middle-aged woman with curly dirty blonde hair that was graying around the edged opened her door in a red bathrobe decorated in cartoon cats as a real black cat skittered out the open door and between their legs.

"Oh Charlie." The woman sighed, watching the cats tail swish down the stairs. She looked up, seeming surprised to see three gentlemen on her porch instead of her cat. "Who are you?"

Sam cleared his throat first, he usually toke the lead when dealing with someone they needed to be gentle and polite to.

"Madam, I'm Elliot Reid and this is my partner Perry Cox. We're from the local newspaper, just here to ask some questions about what you reported seeing the other night." Sam pulled out an ID and resisted the urge to kick Dean for the names he'd chosen. Finally, he had gotten tired of his little brother complaining about always using old rock stars for personas and gone along with false characters from a hospital show he secretly watched. Unfortunately, Sam also secretly watched the same show and knew that he was named after a neurotic, blonde female doctor that constantly got harassed by Dean's smartass character. The last name 'Cox' was just an added bonus for his ego.

The woman, Meredith Edows, looked past them and spotted Gabriel. "And who's that fellow?"

Before Sam or Dean could respond Gabriel leaned forward, extending his hand to hers in a semi-coherent handshake. "Gabe Norsen. I'm an intern. Just along for the ride." He smirked at the way Sam blinked and furrowed his brows in confusion as if he was trying to remember where he heard that name from before.

Meredith nodded and put a hand to her throat, unconsciously stroking a cross necklace that hung there. "Yes, yes well...the police said they didn't believe me...just told me to lay off the wine."

"That may be so, but we'd still like to cover the details. You see, we like to let the people know what's out there even if the police don't agree." Dean smooth-talked the woman into letting them into her home where she lead them to a worn tan couch with faded floral designs on it in front of a glass coffee table that was covered in paw prints.

On the opposite wall Dean stopped to look at a painting.

"What's this?" He asked and Meredith beamed.

"My old Pastor gave that to me and my late husband as a wedding gift...it's a replica of Tobias and the angels. That-that boy right there-" She pointed to a young boy without wings holding the hand of an angel with a long sword and armor. "That's Tobias with Michael."

Dean pretended to show an interest and made an ahh noise as Sam cleared his throat behind him to try and get his attention.

"So, ah, who are the girly ones with the peacock wings and flowers?"

Meredith chuckled. "They're not girly young man, they're angels. The one with the peacock feathered wings is Raphael...although...it's usually Michael who's deciphered with them. And those flowers are lilies. Gabriel is quite famous for them."

Dean's shoulders went stiff from fighting back a laugh as Sam gripped his arm and pulled him back to the couch.

"That's interesting." His green eyes flickered to Gabriel who was leaning against the wall glowering daggers at the older hunter. "Very interesting. Thank you SO much for that."

"So Mrs. Edows?" Sam started, eager to change the subject before a raptor appeared in the poor cat lover's living room to maul his older brother. "You called the police last Thursday stating you saw a thing in the graveyard next to your house?"

She nodded, visibly paling as she clutched her cross and unknowingly moved closer to Gabriel; who rolled his eyes.

"Yes. I...I thought it was just some hoodlum. Some sick teenager digging up a grave...That would have been disturbing...disgusting enough. But..." She swallowed hard, a far away glassy look in her eyes. "It...It lowered its head and started eating the body... I...I didn't know what else to do so I ran back inside, locked all the doors and called the police. I haven't slept at night since..." She shivered and looked at Gabriel. "I haven't felt safe at all...I've been thinking about moving but...suddenly it feels like everything is going to be ok." She moved closer and Gabriel backed himself up flat against the wall. "There's something about you young man..."

Gabriel gave her a sarcastic smirk. "That's what all the ladies tell me. Ah...Perry buddy, I think I'll sit this one out in the car after all." He squeezed past Meredith making sure not to come into any contact with the woman and hurried out the door back to the Impala.

Dammit, this is why he stayed out of churches. There was just something about religious freaks...they seemed to be able to feel his aura and always felt drawn to him, like bears to honey. And he may like sweets but that didn't mean he wanted to let a bear get its claws into him. Normal humans were annoying enough. If he'd known she was a devout Christian he never would have gotten out of the car in the first place.

Dean and Sam followed him out to the Impala only a few minutes later, Dean grinning from ear to ear as he slid behind the wheel of his classic baby.

"So Gabe, are all women that clingy to you, or is it just because you have a soft spot for flowers?"

"Bite me. I had nothing to do with those crack-pot artists that painted those disasters." He fumed and silently struggled with the idea of turning Dean's beloved car into a rusted station wagon but decided against it since he wanted to get back to the hotel as soon as possible. Angels didn't need showers, but the water felt nice and he needed something to wash the dirty feeling off of him.

"So does Michael of Raphael have the peacock wings?"

Gabriel all but growled. "Neither. So what'd you find out about the ghouls?" He asked changing the subject.

Sam spoke up as Dean pulled out of the driveway, not wanting to give his brother another excuse to open his mouth.

"That it's not a Ghoul. It's a Vetala. A hostile spirit that can animate corpses, basically makes them their zombie slaves. The good news is that they can easily be killed just by administering funeral rites since their born from being trapped in-between the materiel world and afterlife. Bad news is, they only attack in cemeteries and that's where we've got to go to get rid of it."

"Yea plus if they attack a human, it drives them insane." Dean cut in, twirling a finger in the air. "So I'm willing to bet Merry Meredith back there left out that the thing got to her because she is ten kinds of whack job." He let out a low whistle.

As they pulled into the hotel parking lot and headed inside, none of them noticed the black Nissan Xterra parked a few spaces down.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Sam was sitting on the bed deep in thought, blinking hard as if he was trying to make sense of something but every time Gabriel asked him what he was thinking about he'd just remain silent, shaking his head and ignoring the persistent angel.

He finally gave up when Dean emerged from the bathroom, rubbing a towel to dry his short hair.

"I'm gonna run back down to that corner store for some food. Want anything Sam?" He asked, ignoring the look Gabriel threw him that clearly asked 'again with the food thing?'

Sam just shook his head, staring at a spot on the floor so when Dean left and the roar of the Impala's engine died away in the distance, Gabriel headed to the bathroom to take a shower that he needed more mentally that physically. The idea of that woman inching so close to him, feeding off his aura, was still sending chills down his spine and leaving him feeling like spiders were crawling all over him.

He shook himself as he looked into the mirror. His brownish ginger hair was getting long and he could see it start to curl around the base of his neck. To anyone that didn't know any better he looked just like any other human. What was it about some people that made them feel like they needed to flock to him? Was it just the blind faith they had in his father that opened a spiritual window he didn't know about? He didn't like the idea of anyone opening any windows that had anything to do with him and let himself shudder again as the door to the bathroom opened.

He looked up slightly startled to see Sam in the doorway.

"I remember."

Gabriel tilted his head. "You're going to have to be a little more specific buddy..."

Sam scoffed, and Gabriel couldn't tell if he was glaring at him or not. He looked somewhat angry, but there was a flicker of different emotions through his hazel eyes that he was having trouble keeping up with.

"Gabe Norsen? Really? Haven't you already used that name? Although I get it now...Gabe-riel and Norse...God...not one of your more cleaver ideas." He bit out, crossing his arms and the reason for Sam's irritation sunk in with an uneasy feeling in the pit of Gabriel's stomach.

"You, ah...you were supposed to forget about that...situation..." He trailed off, not meeting the hunter's gaze and remembering one of the first tricks he played on the Winchester family where he played a thrilling duck-duck-goose game with John before enrolling in Sam's high school to stalk him around the hallways...and more importantly the gym locker room. Sure he had given the kid his first hickey and left his star wars shirt in his book bag...but he had also rescued him from a pedophile. Didn't that count for anything? He had fixed it so that after the Winchester family left town he would slowly fade from young Sammy's memory because after all, it would cause some issues in the future if Sam were to recognize him as the freckled teenager with spiked ginger hair when he was off re-creating urban legends or killing his brother 104 times in a row.

"So, you made me forget you just so you could weasel back into my life 12 years later?"

"Well I couldn't call it weaseling...more like...conveniently strolling." Gabriel put a hand to his chin and pretended to think. "And it's not like I MADE you forget. It would have happened anyways. Just side effects of being an angel...after awhile the people we meet forget we exist. I mean, Dean forgot when he was 8."

"Dean? When Dean was 8? What did you do then?" Sam was letting his voice raise in a slight panic at the idea that he was only 4 years old the first time he had met Gabriel.

"Nothing, nothing." Gabriel raised his hands in surrender. "Just...kidnapped you and put ya in a ditch to see if he could get you back out." He grinned as Sam tensed his muscles and bit his bottom lip in an attempt to control his anger. He was too cute when he let his emotions get the best of him.

"Anything else I should know about? Have you ALWAYS been screwing around with us?"

"Hey hey now. Don't get too flattered, I messed around with the other psychic kids too." Sam rolled his eyes and Gabriel continued to prove his point. "Remember Andy? He was my favorite...used to bring that kids TMNT toys to life. Most kids would freak out but he just loved it. Even stuck him on the top of his school once while he was in the middle of civics class. It was probably the best day of his life. He thought he was Harry Potter or something."

Sam closed the distance between them and pushed Gabriel up against the bathroom sink.

"You talk too much." He muttered.

"Only because you ask too many questions."

"Well, that's what Dean says I do." Sam's voice was lowering into a tone that Gabriel knew all too well as he felt the temperature in the room seem to rise and gripped the fabric of Sam's plaid shirt in his hands pulling them closer together.

"Sammy, you know I like it when you're all dominant." He mock purred and pretended to go girly, lifting himself on his tip-toes and fluttering his eyelashes, "But what's the occasion? This little scenario is usually the other way around." Sam was usually the innocent one minding his own business when Gabriel started climbing all over him. This was the first time Sam had come on to him on his own, provoking the first move.

"Exactly. Figured I'd see how you like it to be the one locked in a bathroom for a change." Sam hinted at the memory of him and Gabriel's first kiss when he had been 14 years old and trapped in the school showers by the trickster. He reached behind him and shut the door with his free hand, locking the small button into place and wrapping his other fingers through the ginger hair.

Gabriel raised both his eyebrows as he felt Sam's shy heart beating faster against his hands.

"I told you I'd never forget you..." He whispered, and it hurt Gabriel to hear the pain behind those words. He'd never considered before that the human may have actually feelings for him back then despite his young age.

"I guess that means you win then..."

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

A few doors down Phil was pacing a hotel room, but this one was in Chicago, Illinois instead of Seattle, Washington. He had driven non-stop to get to the same city where he had a hot tip that the Winchesters would be investigating a new hunt and was now overwhelmed with the fact that he seemed to have caught two birds with one stone.

He was originally just going to wait to get Sam alone to question him about what had been going on recently. He was usually a level headed and rational man and the last thing he wanted to do was attack a fellow hunter. But then when he saw the Trickster, who he now suspected of being an angel of all things, climb out of that black car he quickly had to change his plans.

Even if Sam didn't have demon blood in him, if he was in the same league as the Trickster he needed to be taken out. They both did.

End Chapter 4

I was a bit stuck so I referenced back to one of my previous fics, High School Daze. Gave me something to write about to give Sam and Gabriel a bit more plot and background, and gave whoever liked that fic a semi-sequel. I was also a bit stuck on how to get Phil to realize Gabriel was an angel and then find them in Chicago so I just gave up and threw it in there. Then I was stuck on a chapter title so...well, who doesn't love David Bowie anyways? Hoping to get the next chapter going and up quicker. Sorry for the wait. Dark Angel has been side-tracking me. Blame Alec.


	5. The Clock Ticks

Chapter 5: The Clock Ticks

Arch Angels didn't sleep. However, humans did. So when Dean returned that night and both Sam and him fell asleep, that left Gabriel up all night with nothing to do.

He had flipped through the TV channels for a bit with the sound on mute before the flickering bright light gently roused Sam around 4am and he opted for turning it off and plunging the small hotel room into a comfortable darkness.

With no distractions all he could do was lay there next to Sam, feeling his warm breath on his shoulder and hearing his heart beat so close to him. It was a moment of blissful peace that he didn't remember ever feeling, not even when he had been with Sigyn or Kali. It was that peace that lulled him into a sleeplike state, almost like a catnap, or a long daydream at night. Probably the closest Gabriel could ever get to a dream. His mind had been so relaxed that when one thought lead to another they started morphing together until they toke paths of their own. And it was that light catnap that hid the hushed sound of a hunter making plans on the phone a few doors down from them.

And that very morning Gabriel roused himself from his rest to the sound of Dean waking up. The older hunter was dangerously quiet and alert, even when waking up in the morning and he cracked one olive eye open to watch the human slide out of bed, stretching and peeking out the window to check on his beloved car parked outside.

Gabriel silently slid completely under the covers, kissing Sam on the chest as an apology as his movement caused him to murmur in his sleep. Sure Dean had told him no more creative hunting on his own, but when he'd said that he probably hadn't implied that he could stay all night cuddling with his kid brother. He'd probably expected Gabriel to go 'home' to his own 'apartment'. But what fun was sitting around an empty apartment when there was a perfectly good looking human all alone in a motel room? After all, two halves do make a whole.

He heard Dean's footsteps move around the room, then go past the bed towards the bathroom and felt a sharp slap on his thigh as the hunter punched him through the covers on his way past.

"Come on Gabe, I'm not stupid." Dean muttered, slightly slurred with sleep before he heard the bathroom door shut with a click. So maybe hiding under the covers hadn't been one of his best ideas when he could have just vanished for a few seconds and pretended he'd never been there in the first place. But why would he want to waste all that effort when he was so snuggly warm next to his Sammy?

He felt Sam's warm breath on him and couldn't help but reach out and wrap his arms around the still sleeping human. Sam was so tall that although their ankles were now touching, Gabriel's head rested on his chest, fitting perfectly under his chin, as if it was exactly where the angel belonged. Something about his 'dream' had him on edge, almost anxious like a lion pacing it's cage and gave him the urge to cling to Sam and vanish into thin air to somewhere far far away. A creeping panic on the tip of his spine that screamed danger and brought out his running and hiding reflex.

He heard the bathroom door open again and smirked at the hurmph noise from Dean as he passed by to sit on his own bed, the worn springs in the mattress giving away his movements.

"You're not...giving him a blow job or anything under there are you?"

"No Dean. Trust me, if I were giving him a blowjob he wouldn't be still asleep."

Gabriel eased himself out from under the covers at Dean's disgusted groan before he started a fight that would wake Sam. Poor kid needed all the sleep he could get outside of the cramped Impala. And frankly, it worried Gabriel that the pair of hunters only seemed to get 3-4 hours of sleep a night. He was an angel, he didn't need sleep. They were humans. And he really didn't think that it was healthy to be digesting that much coffee. There was probably more caffeine in their veins than blood. This was better than demon blood, but still worrisome all the same.

As he sat up he fought back the urge to gag as his stomach churned, threatening to heave bile up into his throat. He leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes, his dark ginger hair in disarray around his face.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like vomiting. He never needed to eat; he just sucked on sugar all day because he liked the taste and why not enjoy the finer points of living among the humans? It brought back memories of Asgard among the Norse Gods, when Balder had pointed out that he, as Loki, never ate anymore. A point that Odin had been trying to help him hide but obviously failed and Gabriel had to force himself to choke down a few bites of lamb before he spent the next week on the floor of his bedroom he shared with Sigyn dry heaving long after he'd thrown up everything Loki had ever digested in his life. It wasn't an experience he was willing to relive. Not consuming one of his daddy's creations was kind of an unspoken rule in the Arch Angel guide book and the effect left a lasting impression on him both mentally and physically.

Biting back a groan, he could feel the familiar shifting Sam made as he woke up. First his hand would twitch and then his head would nuzzle closer to whatever it was against, usually a pillow or Gabriel. Sometimes an awkward feeling Dean or Castiel. He'd be still for a few seconds before making a mumbling sound as he flexed his shoulders and let out a deep sigh before opening his eyes. Sam wasn't one of those humans that slowly blinked their eyes into awareness. As soon as he'd let out that breath his eyes would flash open and his body would tense as if he was preparing himself for anything and the seconds before were his last bit of safety and comfort before he drew himself from his sleep and into the cold hunting world full of monsters and danger.

Gabriel had Sam's waking routine memorized as ran a hand over Sam's shoulders as he stretched them, letting his fingers linger on his neck where the long locks rested as he opened his hazel eyes.

"Morning sunshine."

Sam rolled over on his back, staring at the ceiling with an unamused expression as if it were the reason for him waking up from his peace.

"Is that what you say every morning?"

"Call it my morning catch phrase. Helps remind me it's a new day." The angel shrugged. Back before he'd gotten attached to the Winchesters, or before they were born even, he hated the night. The darkness was cold to him even on the warmest summer nights and the crickets seemed to mock the silence. As soon as the sun would start to set he'd pop off to a different spot on the Earth where it was still bright and sunny. The down side to this however, was that sometimes he'd go weeks and not even notice that a single day had passed.

It seemed only appropriate at the time that he followed the sun around, the Morning Star, which shared a nickname with his younger brother Lucifer. With Lucifer locked in the dark recesses of Hell, he felt that if he could keep away from the darkness and follow the light he could remain close to a part of his brother, no matter how corrupted both of their souls had become over the years. A habit that faded a long time ago when he stopped feeling remorse for his actions. As Gabriel came to accept the darkness inside of him, he began to find a new beauty in the night skies and stopped chasing the sun.

Sam looked up at him from his spot on the bed.

"You look like shit." He stated bluntly.

Gabriel chose to ignore him, knowing that if he felt like crap he probably looked like it too and bit his bottom lip thoughtfully.

"I'm thinking about giving you a new nickname." He said, changing the subject.

"I don't need a nickname."

"I'm thinking a Disney princess."

"How about Rapunzel?" Dean spoke up from the other bed.

Sam glared at his older brother. "Dude. You're not helping."

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Phil was at work a few doors down in room #7. He'd deliberately chosen the room for his lucky number, as he'd need all the luck he'd need.

The Winchesters and the Trickster were mere feet away in room #5 and he'd stayed up all night fueling his body with coffee to keep and eye on the Impala in case they tried to go anywhere. Of course, if they were in league with the Trickster then they may not even need the car, but he'd also needed to make a few phone calls.

He was almost positive the Trickster was an angel. He didn't know if he was a fallen angel or an avenging angel, or a member of the Grigori even; but with the apocalypse upon them, more and more hunters had been running into or witnessing angels. And finally, after all these years, they'd found a creature whose powers matched the Tricksters. He still seemed to be a bit more powerful than most that had been encountered, but he'd just have double or triple up his protection and plan of attack.

He'd been going through every contact he knew, pulling in every favor he had, and finally, he'd found somewhere who could get their hands on holy oil. He just had to hope that it'd be the real deal or he may find himself snapped into a million pieces because he doubted the Trickster angel played nice with those who held a real threat to his true identity. Not that he considered what he'd fought before as 'playing nice.'

He knew getting his hands on an Arch Angel's blade was out of the question so he now focused his energies on trying to find the symbol that he'd read mentioning of that could banish an angel if it was drawn in blood. It was a shame he couldn't find any way to summon an angel like you could summon a demon but he probably needed the damn things name for that.

Which he had been working on. He had a few ideas down, but couldn't put his finger on which one was more likely to be the ginger-haired trouble maker that had descended to Earth to wreck havoc. He'd been going through every mention of every angel in alphabetical order and while it had been painstakingly slow- almost torturous- he now had a list that he read over from time to time to see if anything popped out that he may have missed before.

On the top of the list was Puriel, the angel of punishment who had high standards for judging souls before allowing them into heaven. He was said to be ruthless when dealing with the wicked and although he couldn't find much more information on the elusive angel that he'd never even heard of before beginning this research, it almost fit the Trickster's persona exactly.

Ataliel was one of the twenty-eight angels of the moon but he had a love for hindering travelers and creating discord, divorce and the destruction of homes of both families and enemies. He was also pushed to the top of the list as one of the more likely options. Azeruel, Aziel, Requiel and Scheliel were just as bad and also part of the twenty-eight moon angels. While they had their good points, they were also the five of the twenty-eight that enjoyed screwing around with humans and that just didn't sit right with Phil. No matter what good intentions someone had- angel or human, if they ended with evil they needed to be put down.

Aeshma, Amnixiel, Crocell, Focalor, Forcas, Harut, Lahash, Marut and Xaphan, were fallen angels that he couldn't find much lore on, but he kept them on the list all the same and kept an eye and ear open for any further information on them.

Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Haniel and Orifiel were all angels that were supposed to play a part in the apocalypse. This was the apocalypse after all, so maybe one of them had descended to Earth ahead of schedule.

Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael were also mentioned along with an angel named Uriel in Gnostic tradition, as Archons. Possibly a similar version of Arch Angels, they were supposed to have a concept of demonism and correspond with the seven deadly sins. Thinking back on all the Wrath and Pride the trickster seemed to hold, he kept this note closer to the top of his list as well.

Asmodeus and Kasbeel were unlikely but he kept them on the list regardless and still wrote down whatever he could find on them- which wasn't much.

Then of course there was Lucifer, Beelzebub, Ahriman, Eblis and Mastema, who were debated to be devils or Satans that were once angels. He thanked the God that apparently existed that he could cross these names off his list. Since Sam Winchester was the one who released the devil, if the trickster was one of them there would have been no way he could have been free all this time. Although, a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach wanted to believe that was why he saw Sam and that creature together.

What was Sam's connection in all this? And more importantly; Dean. He hadn't heard anything bad about the older brother, but if he was wrapped up in this and turning a blind eye to his evil brother than Phil felt the need to prepare himself to fight both the Winchester brothers.

He tapped his pen against the worn desk in his dump of a room and stared at the papers until the words started to bleed in together until they were just blobs of black ink that made no sense. That seemed appropriate considering Phil was just as lost now as he was before. He thought that when he finally figured out what sort of supernatural monster the Trickster was this would get easier. Instead it only got more complicated.

He now had an even longer list of angel names than he did of creatures that he could have been and he had no way of narrowing it down. And even if he did, he had no guarantee that he could kill the damned thing.

He started thinking that maybe this was hopeless after all when he felt a soft gust of wind blow through his room.

"You really are pathetic for a hunter, aren't you?" A quiet voice behind him spoke.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

"So explain one more time why you can't just poof in there and snap that thing to dust?" Dean was sitting on his bed leaning forward with his head held in one hand that was trying to physically hold in a headache.

"I already told you. I can't fight all your battles for you kiddos. It'd take away all your adventure. Just consider me...a trump card." Gabriel literally bit his tongue. As much as he wanted to murder every single living thing that had the ability to hurt Sam, if he let Dean have his way all that the hunter would do was sit around and eat pie and bacon and get fat. Besides, he liked following them around on the action and adventure. As much as he knew Sam wanted a normal life, he'd miss watching the young human hunt and the alluring scent of testosterone that always seemed to cover him when he came back after successfully killing something.

Sam was sitting behind him on the bed going over Vetala lore and didn't bother taking his hazel eyes off the material during his brother and lover's small argument that happened before almost every single hunt.

"Chill, it's not like this will be hard. Just pop in and read some burial rites." He mumbled.

Dean rolled his eyes. "When has an easy hunt ever actually been easy Sammy?" He broke out the childish nickname for his younger but not smaller brother knowing that it struck a sentimental chord deep down and usually allowed him to get his way.

"Yea, well, we didn't have an Arch Angel for a 'trump card' before either."

Gabriel nodded and shot Dean a sarcastic grin that was supposed to have been charming. "Yea, if you get into trouble just pull the Ace out of your sleeve."

"...your not..LITERALLY going to be in my shirt are you?" He could almost see Dean twitch at the idea and heard Sam snort behind him, which seemed to be the closest he could get the young hunter to laughing. These days he was lucky to even get a smile much less an honest laugh.

"Dean, you know Rupunzel's the only person I want in the pants of."

"SHIRT." Dean said at the same time Sam said "SAM.", both of them arguing different points from the same sentence.

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes and ignored the sharp jab as Sam elbowed him in the side after his remark about both his new unwanted nickname and the sexual reference. He was really going to have to break him out of this shyness that he seemed to have for any form of affection.

Maybe it was just because the pain from Jessica and Madison was still raw, or maybe it was just because his brother was in the room or because Sam was new to homosexuality. But the human sure made him fight hard for physical contact and whenever he whispered endearments to him, he never had anything to say in return and just got a distant look in his hazel eyes as if he hoped the silence would change the subject.

Well if Gabriel couldn't play his old games, he'd just have to start a new game. And the prize would be getting Sam Winchester to open up to him - both his mind and his arms.

He watched the hunters pack what weapons they had brought into their hotel room with them and head out to the Impala as it grew darker outside. As soon as the door shut behind them, he allowed him body to collapse onto the hotel bed, curling into the fetal position.

He'd been holding in the discomfort for hours and if Sam and Dean hadn't finally left he might have had to break down in front of them. The sickening feeling was still in his stomach, worse than ever, almost painful. Churning and making his spine tingle as if his body was begging him to recognize something was wrong.

Gabriel kept fighting the impulse to vanish to somewhere else, to hide until it was safe...but safe from what he didn't know. All he knew was that something felt threatening and he could feel it pressing in on the air around him. He tried focusing his mind on any nearby threats but it felt like there were mental blocks up around him, as if something was trying to hide its presence.

This only escalated the feeling of paranoia and Gabriel rolled off the bed to crouch on the floor. There was something powerful nearby, much more powerful than the Vetala and much closer. The shadow of wings flashed on the ground as he summoned more strength than he had in years to shatter to invisible barrier that was shielding the unknown enemy but as soon as the wall broke, he felt the presence vanish.

But not before he recognized the imprint of the aura with a surge of anger. Something he'd recognize anywhere.

An Angel. And not just any angel.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Phil grabbed his knife and spun around, the chair clattering to the floor in his rush.

Behind him, he came face to face with a tanned man with bright green eyes and dark brown hair that hung in straggly curls around his face and stuck out in disarray. He stroked his five o'clock shadow and the gaze that the person had on Phil was beginning to unsettle him even more than his sudden appearance into his locked hotel room.

He wore a white button up with a red striped tie and tan slacks in contrast to Phil's own Black t-shirt on ripped up jeans and spoke with a Middle Eastern accent as he brushed past Phil, barely acknowledging his drawn weapon to look at the research laid out on the desk.

"Hey!" Phil shouted, "Who are you and what the fuck do you think your doing in here?"

The man simply flickered his eyes to Phil before returning his attention to the research and brushing several of the papers off the desk, leaving only two on top.

"Quiet now. Do you want to alert your neighbors?" He spoke in his hushed accent.

Phil risked a look out the window in time to see the black Impala pulling away but before he had a chance to react the man verbally restrained him.

"It's not them you should worry about. Let them go."

Phil glowered in full hatred at the person in front of him now. "And how do you know? Do you even know who those guys were? And you still haven't answered who YOU are or WHY you are in my hotel room!" He started to shout again, regardless of his neighbors.

The man clicked his tongue, tsking at the human's impatience. "Of course. They are Dean James Winchester born January 23rd 1980 and Samuel Francis Winchester born May 2nd 1984 both in Lawrence, Kansas to Mary and John Winchester." He raised an eyebrow to Phil's dumbstruck expression.

"And the rest of my questions that your still avoiding?" Phil managed to choke out, starting to get suspicious of the human in front of him...if it was even human which he was starting to highly doubt as he tightened his grip on his knife.

He looked down at the blade Phil was gripping and chuckled. "That won't do you any good Phillip. I'm an angel."

Phil's eyes widened. What was it they said about to not go looking for trouble? Well he had gone looking for angels and now there was one standing in his cheap hotel room. The knife he held in his hand was completely useless, the holy oil was probably still somewhere in England, and he had never found that banishing sigil. Fuck.

The dark skinned angel turned to him, handing him the remaining papers from all his hard research. The papers about the Angels of the Apocalypse and the Archons.

"My name is Dubbiel. And I'm going to help you kill Gabriel."

For a moment Phil had forgotten how to speak as his mouth opened and closed wordlessly. He looked down at the papers he'd been handed. Gabriel had taken note of more than once along with Michael and Raphael and had been mentioned as God's main messenger and the one to sit on God's left hand side. In the Angel of the apocalypse notes, it was said that he was to sound the trumpet that declared the end of the war, but it never mentioned that he was going to be IN it. And while he was known as the Angel of Mercy, he was also known as the Prince of Justice. Justice...so that's what that thing thought it was doing when it murdered sinners. Somehow Mercy must fit into his reasoning but Phil didn't want to dabble in the thoughts of an angel. An ARCH angel, no matter which version of the Bible you looked at and one of the most powerful angels that existed.

Dubbiel waved his hand dismissively. "Close your mouth."

"How...Gabriel? Why would you...?"

"How is Gabriel on Earth? Why would I want him dead?" Dubbiel finished his sentences that were left hanging and crossed his arms, contempt and anger flashing in his green eyes. "I used to be the guardian of Persia. Until Gabriel couldn't carry out the simple task of killing the Jews by pouring burning coals on them. God's direct orders you know...but ever since the thing with Michael and Lucifer...that brat had been stubborn about taking orders from him. He still did it though, but he found a loop hole. He found the laziest angel that should be cast into Hell for his sloth to pass the coals to him so that they were cold and harmless when he cast them onto the Jews. All just because he felt sorry for the Israelis, can you believe that?" Dubbiel huffed and started to pace around the room.

"And THEN, as if that weren't bad enough, he went and got involved in the human war! He actually convinced the Babylonians that it was better to force the Jews into Israel than to kill them. After God specifically wanted them dead!"

"So you hate Gabriel for that?" Phil found his voice to speak up and instantly regretted it after receiving the green glare that was now directed at him.

"No. Not that." He smirked, a cold smile. "That got me a promotion. God was furious at him...but I suppose he didn't want to disown a second son or something...so he just demoted Gabriel. And I got his original position." His green eyes sparkled at the prideful memory. "I finally had the power to help my Persians so they could expand their country and conquer others. I finally had POWER! And then it was all taken away again when that brat convinced dear old daddy to give him back his job! Not only did I loose my power, I lost my country! I was lower than before! I was marked as a fallen angel because of HIM and I've spent the past two-thousand years in Israel having to record all of their sins! All because of Gabriel! And then he didn't even KEEP the job he stole from me! He abandoned his own family and ran away to Earth!"

Phil suddenly fully understood the meaning of 'wrath of heaven' as he watched the fire burn in the furious fallen angel's eyes.

"I want him dead. If he's dead, I can go back to God. I can show him all the sins of the Israelis. I can wipe that miserable country off the map and take my rightful place in heaven. And you, Phillip. You are going to help me. I know you want revenge on him as well."

Before Phil could consider a response, Dubbiel winced.

"Crap. He's on to me..." He muttered, glaring at the wall as if he could see Gabriel on the other side, through the room in-between them. "I'll be back. Think about your answer Phillip." He visibly winced again and shuddered as he stumbled backwards as if he were punched by something invisible and vanished into thin air.

End chapter 5

Sorry this toke so long, but the reason is because that entire angel stuff up there - that's legit. The list, Dubbiel and the whole heaven and Israel ordeal, everything. I did a ton of research on this chapter to make it believable. Hope you enjoyed.


	6. Unleashed

Chapter 6: Unleashed

Dubbiel picked at the dirt under his nails with feigned disinterest as Phil flipped through book after book in the dingy church library. The hunter was determined to do as much research on Dubbiel as he could before deciding if he'd help him or not. Good thing churches were open 24/7. Dubbiel had angel-ported the both of them into it regardless of it's open hours however, and oblivious to the way Phil doubled over in nausea as they landed in their new location. He needed to get this over with and Phil on his side as soon as possible. It wasn't his fault humans couldn't handle the way he traveled. The more time they spent here, the longer their opportunity to strike quick and have the element of surprise was ruined.

"You hunters. It's always research this, research that, isn't it?"

Phil grunted, not looking up, and the fallen angel rolled his emerald green eyes. It didn't matter how much research Phil did, he'd trust him in the end. They all did. He WAS an angel after all, fallen and out for vengeance or not. The only difference was that this man might actually be of use to him.

He'd spent too many years wandering the Earth looking for someone, anyone, with a lead to Gabriel. He had to hand it to the older Arch Angel; he was good at hiding and covering his tracks. Who would have ever thought that he would have taken refuge in a Norse God's body? Loki of them all. His blind spot was that he had been looking through devout worshippers, positive that Gabriel would be hiding out in a church in a small corner of the world. He never suspected going to a hunter and hearing about the Trickster that ran amok all over America.

Oh how the mighty had fallen. Both him and Gabriel. Gabriel, once the self-righteous angel that defied his father to save a small country of people was now practically a serial killer with a fucked up sense of humor. And Dubbiel himself, had once held so much power in Heaven, and was now destined to wander Earth as a weakling.

That was all about to change.

He couldn't get near Gabriel without him sensing his prescience, as earlier in the hotel had proven. Their auras clashed and made Gabriel violently and physically sick but in the end, Gabriel had over-powered him when he realized whose aura it was affecting him and he fled for his life. He hadn't been within reach of Gabriel's senses since.

Phil, on the other hand, would be able to easily get close to the arch angel. Close enough to exact his own revenge on Sam Winchester. Philly didn't need to know the rest of his plan from there though. Once he was done with him, he wouldn't need to know anything.

"So...Dubbiel."

Dubbiel made a sound in the back of the throat to alert him he was listening.

"You're really the real deal?" He continued at the angel's quirked eyebrow. "Don't give me that- I've never met an angel before."

"You've met Gabriel. Apparently."

"Yeah, speaking of that, you guys really aren't what I had in mind when I think of angels."

Dubbiel gave him a dry, sarcastic smile. "We're God's soldiers, not prayer and miracle machines with wings. Blame your kind's own misinterpretation of the Bible for that."

"Yeah." Phil coughed. "So. Anyways."

"You've really got a way with words Philly."

Phil glared at him and wondered if he'd go to Hell for punching an angel. Or for whatever he was getting ready to help Dubbiel do to Gabriel.

"Yeah. So. Anyways." He repeated. "I'm on board. I'll help."

Dubbiel smiled a smile that was probably once charming and sweet but now sent a chill through Phil's body.

"I know. Enough wasting time."

SPN SPN SPN SPN

"Sammy, we've been out here for hours. Where the hell is this thing?"

Dean's irritated voice broke out over the silence in the graveyard. They had paid Meredith another visit, and let her know that they were going to investigate the graveyard for extra details for the story so that she wouldn't panic when she saw their flashlights and call the cops but after two hours of wandering around in-between the dark tombstones, the Vetala still hadn't made an appearance. And they needed it corporeal when they read the rites to banish it.

"Maybe Gabriel changed his mind and already got rid of it?" Sam replied with a hint of hopefulness although he knew it wasn't likely. Gabriel had been acting weird all morning, worried almost. Although he was good at hiding it and changing the subject every time he saw Sam catching on to the look in his olive eyes.

Whatever could make an Arch Angel worry couldn't be good though. He hoped it was just the usual stress of Lucifer and the apocalypse and no new threat had come to surface. Then he snorted. Usual stress of Lucifer and the apocalypse...when had his life become so fucked up that running around after the devil to stop the end of the world was normal?

Then again, who would have thought that he'd be in a gay relationship with not just any supernatural being, but the 'heaven-almighty Gabriel the Arch Asshole' as Dean liked to call him. Especially since three years ago when they first met him, they thought he was just a nameless trickster with a sick sense of humor. Scratch that, Sam sighed. Gabriel's pranks apparently lead way back to Sam's freshmen year in high school. And then apparently back before he could remember.

A warm feeling washed over him for a second, feeling special that he'd not only attracted Gabriel's attention from the start, but kept it for so long. It had to be considered an honor for an angel of the lord to 'go gay' for you, even if he was a run away angel that had joined the pagans centuries ago.

"That'd be just like damn Gabriel." Dean muttered. "Tell us he's not going to do it, and then do it without telling us and leave us out here all freakin night on a wild goose chase." He threw his arms up in the air exasperated. "He's probably perched in a tree somewhere watching and laughing his ass off."

"No...I don't think so Dean. I think he's pre-occupied." Sam mumbled, completely un-aware of the dirty look his brother threw him through the dark.

"Pre-occupied with what exactly?"

Sam looked up slightly alarmed by the growl in his brother's voice before realizing his mistake. "No, no, nothing like that. He just...seemed sick. I don't know, do angels even get sick?"

Dean shook his head. "Not as far as I know. Never seen Cas with as much as the sniffles. Maybe all that sugar is finally getting to him."

"Mmhm." Sam pursed his lips together and shifted his gaze. "This is weird; it should have shown up by now."

"Tell me about it. I'm giving it another hour before I go back to the motel."

Sam shrugged in agreement. "Maybe the boundaries of the graveyard go deeper than we thought. I'll check the surrounding woods...see if there are any old tombstones stashed between trees or something."

"Yeah, you do that. Be careful."

Sam was already headed towards the dense forest on the edge of the cemetery before he even heard Dean tell him to be careful. Not that he needed to hear it; he always knew Dean would tell him before he did something dangerous. It was more out of habit than worry for his safety after all these years.

Sam was an older, more experienced hunter now than he was when Dean and dad had first started showing him the ropes, how to hold a gun and flash light at the same time and how to track through woods. Back then Dean had been so concerned about Sam all the time he'd almost sounded like a broken record. 'Be careful, watch out, watch your back, be careful.' 'Hey, listen, hello, look.' He remembered his dad had smacked Dean upside the head more than once and told him to get his mind off Sam and on the hunt.

But still, it did seem like bad luck seemed to follow Sam Winchester around. It was Sam who had gotten kidnapped by the Benders and the Morton ghost. It was Sam who had gotten hunted by crazy Gordon Walker, not once, but twice. Three times if you included the time he sent his two friends after him. It was Sam who had been possessed, and then worse, kidnapped by Azazel and killed by Jake.

Things both Supernatural and human seemed to take a liking to taking Sam captive. He couldn't count the number of times he'd gotten captured on a hunt when he was younger and needed his dad and Dean to come rescue him. But they'd always had. They always had his back in the end. They'd tell him to be careful and then act like they were going on their usual business without a care about him but they never stopped listening for him, for anything that might be wrong to come running to at once.

At least now he had Gabriel, an extra security blanket, so the pressure wasn't all on Dean to keep him safe anymore. He was worried about his older brother. There was only so much stress one person could take before they had a heart attack and he was adding to Dean's growing pile every day.

If Dean had been with Sam at that second, he would have laughed at the irony. Sam was so lost in his thoughts of the past, thinking about all the times he had been kidnapped; he never even heard the quiet stealth of the other hunter in the woods behind him.

Second verse, same as the first. An arm wrapped around his throat from behind and covered his nose and mouth with a foul smelling cloth that Sam recognized in a panicked moment as chloroform. He reached for the knife he kept in his jacket and slashed at his attacker's arm that was wrapped around him but it only caused the grip to tighten, cutting off his airway.

Hadn't this happened before? Oh yea, when the crazy alchemist Dr. Bennett had kidnapped him. Damn it not again, were his last thoughts before his eyes rolled up into his head and his body hit the ground heavily as his vision faded to black.

SPN SPN SPN SPN

Phil stood over a sink, bandaging his arm. Damn Winchester had managed to nick him pretty deep in the arm with that knife when he'd grabbed him.

"It would have been easier if you just would have let me knock him out with a baseball bat." He growled at the angel who was inspecting the young hunter with wavy brown hair that was currently tied to a chair in the middle of the basement of this abandoned house.

Dubbiel didn't even bother to acknowledge his remark with a look.

"I already explained to you...Gabriel is attached to his human. And when I say attached I don't mean 'oh I really love my puppy.' I mean, he can sense his blood. He knows when it's been spilt and he would have been there in 0.2 seconds flat and if you think he'd let you walk away twice, especially after hurting HIS human, you're wrong. He would have killed you."

"Right, right. Too risky to bludgeon the kid and make him bleed." Phil leaned back against the wall. "So tell me how we're going to kill him and keep all his blood inside him at the same time?" And please don't say suffocation, Phil thought. He may be an experienced hunter, but he didn't think he'd be able to stomach choking a poor kid to death. He was starting to have second thoughts about wither he really wanted Sam Winchester dead or not but it was too late to back out now.

"We're not going to kill him until after we kill Gabriel."

"Why did you make me kidnap him and lug him all the way here then?" Phil shouted. This was getting insane. He was sick of being kept in the dark and running around like this guy's lap dog when they'd met less than a few hours ago, angel or not.

"Because I couldn't get near that town again. Gabriel was already aware of my presence once. He'll be on alert. I needed you to go in and get him, and bring him to me. Does that not make sense to you? Are you questioning my orders or are you just too dense to figure this out on your own?" Dubbiel titled his head, his dark hair falling to the side and emerald green eyes glaring out from behind the strands.

"No. I understand now. So the kid's bait." Phil glared back, shoving down the bile in the back of his throat. Nothing about this plan was sitting right with him anymore. He didn't do torture. He didn't do kidnapping. He didn't do elaborate schemes. He just wanted to shoot Sam in the head and get this over with and leave Dubbiel to deal with Gabriel. He was officially out of his pay grade and level.

Dubbiel smiled. "Exactly." He caressed Sam's head, causing the younger man to stir slightly. "Did you set everything up like I asked you to?"

Phil nodded. "Though once again, I don't get why I needed to. What have you done today?"

"Me? I've savored the fact that after tonight, I'll finally have what I've been working for all these years. Have you ever worked for a goal Phil? Worked for something for over two-thousand years? No. I didn't think so." He answered his own question with a smirk. "Well let me tell you something. Tonight is going to be a good night. Tonight is going to be an AMAZING night."

SPN SPN SPN SPN

Gabriel appeared in the middle of the cemetery that Sam and Dean had said they were going to. Hell, he had been at Meredith's house earlier, he knew exactly where it was. He cast a reproachful glance at the religious nut's house looming in the distance, nothing more than a dark shape in the night.

"Gabriel?"

He turned around to face a slightly frantic looking Dean.

"I should have freakin known. Is this fun to you? I've been going out of my freaking mind here!"

"First off, I find alot of things fun...but what exactly did I do to make you freak out on me this time?"

Dean glared at him as if he should know and he merely shrugged. He'd been scouting out the hotel and town ever since the boys had left for this hunt and he'd sensed Dubbiel's aura. Whatever the fallen angel was doing in town, he'd left in a hurry and with no trace to follow. Quite frankly, he wasn't sad to see him leave without stopping by to say hello. Dubbiel was right on top of the list of angels he never wanted to see again.

Arrogant prick with strap on wings had taken his place next to dear old dad when he'd shown the Jews mercy all those decades ago. And then he'd used his power to bring his own country he watched over, Persia, to the top of the game by helping them slaughter and take over their neighboring countries.

So maybe dad had over-reacted a bit when Gabriel had told him what Dubbiel was really up to and kicked him out of Heaven. That wasn't really HIS fault, was it?

After searching for Dubbiel however, he had returned to the hotel room expecting to find a furious Dean and worried Sammy for him being gone when they got back. Instead, the room was still as empty as it was when he'd left. It'd been three hours, how long did an easy Vetala take?

So now here he was, just wanting to check up on them and he was getting yelled at. Again. It seemed like Dean chewing Gabriel out for one thing or another would almost be considered their bonding time.

"You said you weren't going to do shit to help us."

"Yep. And I meant it." Gabriel looked around. "So if the Vetala's gone, why are you still here?"

Dean narrowed his eyes. "How do you know it's gone?"

"Because I can't sense it." Gabriel gave him a look. "Hellooooo, Arch Angel, remember? Comes with a built in evil-detector."

"Well we didn't kill it...wait...and if you didn't kill it. Aw damn it. Please tell me you've got Sam."

Gabriel froze. "Why would I have Sam?"

Dean threw his arms up in the air, almost dropping the flash light. "Because I can't find him anywhere! He went off into the woods to look for the damn creature about an hour ago and won't respond. His phone is off and I've been looking everywhere. I saw you and I just assumed -"

"You assumed that I'd think it was fun to manipulate this into getting me some Sammy time by leaving you in a graveyard looking for him and a creature that's already dead. Thanks Deano, thanks. For the record, if I want Sammy time, I don't need to pull something this elaborate to get it."

"I don't care about you and your Sammy time. There isn't going to be anymore Sammy time for anyone if we don't figure out where he went."

Gabriel could almost hear Dean cursing in his mind and hear his heart hammering faster than usual. Sam in danger always put Dean in moods like this. Sure back in the day Gabriel found it pretty damn entertaining to screw with the both of their lives, but now he was more cautious. He wouldn't do something like this to make Dean panic.

He didn't feel the same way about Dean as he did Sam, but after the past few months he'd become fond of the older hunter. His snarks and the bitter sarcastic conversations they could throw back and forth at each other were almost fun. He'd never met many people that could keep up with his remarks and was secretly pleased to find someone else who could play the game as well as he could. Even if that someone else was constantly threatening to tie him down and set him on holy fire. He was even beginning to find the death threats endearing, as if they were the only form of affection the older Winchester knew how to show towards him.

But now there was a bigger problem. Sam was missing. His Sam. And he hadn't even realized it. Had Dubbiel been a distraction to gain his attention while something grabbed his lover? Was it whatever had killed the Vetala, or worse?

Nothing toke his Sam from him. Nothing. Not Lucifer, not Michael, not dad himself and certainly nothing else in this world was going to get its hands on him.

He was going to find him, get him back, and then take his time ripping whoever had done this limb from limb. The gloves were off when you touched what belonged to an arch angel.

"Let's go."

End ch6

Sorry for the short chapter, I was a bit stuck and now that I've added Dubbiel to the mix I've got to switch POV's more often. I just wanted to get this up before I went to Anime Weekend Atlanta this weekend and I've been distracted by my fresh addiction to Tumblr and my Dark Angel fanfics. Next chapter will be longer.


	7. FUBAR

Chapter 7: FUBAR

The wind was blowing wildly as Gabriel sat ontop of the building downtown. He hadn't meant to practically conjour up a hurricane, but after a hour, panic was setting in and beginning to get the best of him. And he didn't care enough to control his abilities that were currently tail-spinning with his emotions around him.

It shouldn't have even taken ten minutes to find Sam. Even with the enochian scribes on his ribs he had a seventh sense right next to his sixth prayer sense that told him where his Sam was. A bond had formed between them, almost like a contract to always be able to find him, the first time they kissed. A link that was testemony to the arch angel's love and protection.

And the fact that he couldn't hear Sam praying to him was worrying as well. The only thing that could prevent that was if Sam was uncontious or something was blocking his thoughts.

Something was blocking Sam's aura from him. Something, more specifically, Dubbiel. He could practically taste the fallen angel's power on the tip of his tounge. The feeling of being helpless washed over him for the first time in a millenia and the thought made him want to rip his hair out.

He stood up and started pacing, taking his bright orange cell phone out of his pocket for the billionth time to check for missed calls. He snorted, shoving it back into his pocket. Oh the days where an arch angel had to carry a cell phone around. Most of the time, it was the only way he could keep in touch with the Winchester brothers, Bobby, and even Castiel sometimes though. So he kept it. Even changed the ringtone to Life is a Highway which seemed appropriate at the time, considering how much time he was spending in the backseat of the Impala lately.

Sam's ringtone was special, Dance Magic Dance by David Bowie since it held a not-so- forgotten-anymore meaning to Gabriel's alias Gabe Norsen back when Sam had been in high school. It reminded him of better days. Before his brother's apocalypse to claim the Earth, before revealed identities, before all this mess that kept blowing around them where ever they went.

But now his phone was silent and he had the urge to chuck it off the roof. What was the point of the peice of plastic if it wasn't helping him find Sam at this second? He swore he was going to impant a tracking device in Sam like they put on wild animals when he found that kid.

Something wandering the streets below caught his eye and he stopped pacing, taking a minute to vanish and re-appear in an ally below with his back pressed against a filthy brick wall.

Across the street he could see the hunter that he'd encountered not even a week ago in North Carolina. But what was he doing all the way up here? His eyes were narrowed and darting back and forth as if they were looking for something. Surely he couldn't have tracked him all the way here. No hunter he'd ever met was that good, not even Bobby Singer and he seemed to have a spidey-sense when it came to Gabriel's mischeif.

The only hunter that ever tracked him down was Sam. And that was only with Gabriel's nudging in the right direction because over the months he couldn't take watching Sam spiral downhill after the loss of his brother. He'd only wanted to help, to prepare him for what it'd be like when Dean went to hell but he'd almost destroyed the soul of the man he loved in the process and had to put a quick end to it after six months. His desperate tears had been the final straw.

On the wind he caught the scent of something that made him groan out loud and banged his head back against the wall. Dammit. Dubbiel. The human reeked of his aura the same way Sam probably had Gabriel's lingering scent on him as well, just, not as strongly because he very seriously doubted Phil or Dubbiel had any sort of sexual affairs with each other.

The peices clicked together. Dean was going to kill him for getting his little brother into this kind of a mess.

He re-appeared behind the haggard and worn looking hunter.

"Long way from home Philly."

Phil spun around, not looking in the least bit surprised at the supernatural beings sudden apperance behind him. He could see the buldge of a stake beneath his jacket and rolled his golden olive eyes.

"I could say the same for you. Gabriel." He spat out his name with defiance and bravery in his voice but his eyes betrayed the human, unable to meet the angel's green and instead, continuing to dart around the street.

Gabriel crossed his arms and leaned against a lamp post. "Tch, tch, tch. So you know what I really am. Congrat-u-freakin-lations. That makes you special. However, don't get too excited because i'm betting you had help with that from a douche named Dubbiel."

"How do you know about Dubbiel?"

He raised both eyebrows. "Really? Are you seriously asking me that? Me and Dubbiel go way back. Much much longer than whatever escapade you two have been having. What I want to know, is what part you're playing in all this. I don't seem to recall you in Dubbiel's fanclub last Sunday."

"Well it started out, I just wanted to figure out a way to kill you. For good." Phil grinned but the smile didn't meet his eyes and was for mere show without a hint of joy whatsoever in it. "And then a little birdy told me about the apocalypse and your little boyfriend's demon blood abilities."

"I wouldn't call him little, he's much taller than either of us. And not to mention, built like a rhino."

"So me and Dubbiel made a deal. He helps me get Sam, and I help him get you."

"Well that's real cute and all, but me and Sammy, we don't share well and we don't do four-somes so why don't you and Dubbi just go get a different hotel room." He cracked another joke to try and hide the unease that was bubbling in his stomach.

"Let me ask you something, Gabriel." He didn't wait for a response and stepped closer to the dark ginger-haired angel. "Are you afraid to die? After two-thousand years of playing hide-and-seek with death and ring-around-the-rosey with hunters, how does it feel to know that you'll soon be staring non-existance in the face?"

"Well, if i'm dead how am I going to stare at anything? I hear Death is a real swell guy though. I'm not a huge fan of pizza but-"

"Is everything just a huge joke to you?" Phil snapped, cutting him off. "You toy with people's lives like it's nothing but a game to you! And now, we've got your precious half-demon captive and you're just standing here joking around-"

It was Phil's turn to be cut off as he found himself suddenly airbourne and slammed against a blue luxury sedan. People around gasped and hurried out of the way of the two men as metal groaned under the impact.

"First of all, Sam is NOT half-demon. He's not even a quarter, not even a milligram, demon. You got that? That bag of dicks you're working with right now is more of a demon than he'll ever be- don't let the wings fool you. He's fallen for a reason."

"You're fallen."

"No. I ran-away. There's a difference. And second, I don't toy with people because i'm bored, I do it because they deserve it and if I don't, other innocent people will get hurt. I save more people in a week than you've saved in your entire life."

"You've also killed more."

"True. But let me tell you something else, I've never killed a hunter before. All your stakes and traps and hunting me down and i've never seriously tried to hurt any of you."

"You set giant wolves on me!"

Gabriel shrugged. "Consider that a training test. I. Don't. Hurt. Hunters. You know why? Because under all your self-rigitous arrogance, I know you're not actually bad people and you've got the same goals as me. We're just doing it differently. But I promise you Phil – I swear...if Sam gets even a scratch because of whatever half-assed scheme you're trying to cook up, you'll be the first hunter I kill."

"Do it then." Phil raised his chin. "I'm not afraid to die. At least my life would have meant something. At least I'll die knowing you and Sam will follow close behind."

Gabriel grabbed the collar of his jacket and roughly shoved him up against the car again, taking a sort of pleasure in the pain he saw reflected in the man's eyes and felt his body wince against the abuse.

"Is that what you think? You'll die for nothing Phil. Nothing. Can't you see that Dubbiel is just using you? He's counting on me killing you and if I don't, he will." He loosened his grip. "Once he gets what he wants do you really think he'll just thank you and leave?"

"If I help him, i'll get a heavenly reward..."

Gabriel actually laughed out loud. "Are you mental? You can't get a heavenly reward from a fallen angel Phil! They're not heavenly anymore!"

"No. Once he kills you, God will give him your place in Heaven again. And THEN I'll get your reward."

"Oh for crying out loud-" Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Is that what this is still all about? He can HAVE my place up there. I don't care. But let me tell ya, neither does God. This apocalypse around you, God knows about it. He knows about Lucifer, he knows about Sam, he knows about me, and guess what chucklehead? He doesn't care. Not even in the slightest. So let's cut the chase and you just tell me where Sam is so this whole thing can be over with."

SPN SPN SPN

"You might as well stop praying, he can't hear you."

The foreign voice snapped Sam out of his thoughts. He had awoken what felt like hours ago tied to what felt like an uncomforble wooden chair with splinters that were stabbing into his forearms around the tight ropes that bound his wrists behind him. The blindfold prevented him from seeing anything but the darkness of the cloth around his eyes but he could tell the voice came from his right. What alarmed him the most though, was the fact that the voice implied that it not only knew he was praying, but who he was praying too.

Gabriel had practically drilled it into his head. 'Just call my name and i'll be there.' He even sang the song frquently to make sure Sam wouldn't forget. Runaway angel or not, he still had his wings and therefore he could still hear prayers directed at him and locate where and who they were coming from. It was a nice little loophole to the enochian sigils that they'd taken advantage of whenever Sam needed Gabriel.

But usually Gabriel responded to him within the seconds, with a friendly joke and an affectionate hair ruffle or hug around the shoulders. Sometime's he'd lick his face which reminded Sam of a dog he'd once had named Bones and caused the angel to complain for hours about how Sam tasted too salty and following threats to turn his skin into sugar.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, tugging at his restraints.

Gentle hands untied the cloth from around his eyes to reveal a tall dark-skinned man with rugged facial hair and dark curls hanging around his face.

"I mean, your precious little angel on a leash can't hear you. I've put a spell on this building and blocked both of our auras."

Sam futilly tugged at his bound limbs again. "Auras?"

The man smirked. "If Gabriel didn't explain how angels can sense auras, i'm not going to waste my time doing it either. No point in educating something that's going to die anyways."

A spike of panic started crawling up Sam's spine. "What is that supposed to mean? What're you going to do to me?"

"Oh nothing, don't flatter yourself. Quite frankly I don't give a damn about you. It's Gabriel i'm after. However, Phil is another story."

"Who is Phil?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Stop asking pointless questions." The man walked in circles around Sam, observing him. "So what makes you so special anyways?"

Sam sighed. "You know, if you stopped asking such cryptic questions I might be able to answer them." He was getting tired of asking this guy 'what do you mean' already and the current situation wasn't improving his mood for asking or answering questions anyways. This guy knew what Gabriel was, and that they were together and now he was tied up in some building that Gabe wouldn't be able to find by an apparent lunatic. None of that spelled out anything good.

"What's so special about you, that an angel would tie itself down to you?"

He swallowed hard. Gabriel. This was about Gabriel. He supposed it was only fair that after all the times he'd gotten Gabriel staked through the heart or thrown into the middle of demon battles because of his past and destiny, that it was now working the other way around. After all, it wasn't like he doubted Gabriel had made a number of enemies over the years. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

"Ah, I dunno. My charming charisma?"

The man snorted. "Doubtful."

To be honest though, Sam couldn't give this strange man an answer to that question. He was mortal and flawed more than most humans on account of the demon blood that had been rushing through his veins since he was six months old. He had anger issues, a rabid jealous streak, and trust impairments galore. Not to mention ninety percent of all of Gabriel's troubles these days revolved around things that were Sam's fault.

He couldn't think of one single reason why Gabriel would want to be with him. He didn't doubt that the angel loved him, he just didn't know why. He wasn't blind to the way he looked into his eyes with unhidden affection, but he saw the worry and distress that often followed. Or worse, the hurt or irritation when Sam would shove him away to work on something for a hunt instead of cuddling or because Dean was in the room.

And yet he's stuck around. He could create something perfect to bow to his every whim and for some reason he was still poking and prodding at Sam's walls trying to squeeze his way through the cracks.

The man broke him out of his thoughts by leaning on his shoulder and breathing into his ear.

"Have you ever read the Bible Samuel?"

"Of course." He muttered. When he had been younger and stayed with Pastor Jim Murphy while John was out on hunts, Jim used to read it to him all the time.

"What all do you remember about Gabriel."

Ah geez. Gabriel had always been one of Sam's favorite angels. Of course, back when he was younger he'd never imagined he'd ever meet the arch angel much less be in a relationship with him, but it was a strange life.

"He was the one that told all the unborn babies about heaven, and then made them forget by pressing his finger to their lips. And he's supposed to sound the trumpet to end to apocalypse." Although no where in the Bible did it mention that he was going to be fighting in the apocalypse as well.

The man nodded. "Go on."

"He sat beside God. Judged souls."

"Go on." He repeated and Sam glared up at him.

"Is there something specific i'm supposed to be mentioning?"

"You're supposed to be mentioning the angel that Gabriel conspired to get thrown out of Heaven."

Sam suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Dubbiel. Dammit, he was staring face to face with Dubbiel. Even before he knew Gabriel, and knew his motives, he'd never liked that story. He didn't consider Gabriel back-stabbing or coniving but the conflict the two angels had resulted in Dubbiel being kicked out of Heaven so he didn't hesitate for a second to believe that this angel wanted revenge.

"You're a long way from Israel."

"Yeah, well this is more important."

A door opened and slammed shut above them and caught both of their attention as heavy boots stepped down the wooden stairs to where they were. Dubbiel tightened his grip around his shoulders and for a second Sam felt fury ignite within him that an angel that wasn't Gabriel was touching him.

And speak of the devil- well, in this case angel. Gabriel entered the room behind a man that Sam could only assume was Phil and reconized him from the hotel they had been staying at and as the man that had grabbed him in the woods.

"Gabriel no! It's a trap!" Sam managed to shout before Dubbiel covered his mouth with his hand.

Gabriel simply looked at him. "You think I don't know that? Give me some credit Sammy." He averted his olive green gaze from Sam to Dubbiel. "And would you mind not draping yourself all over him like that? It's going to take forever to wash your scent off him." He tilted his ginger head to the side for a second. "Actually, go right ahead. It'll give me a good excuse to trap him in a shower again."

"You say that like you're getting out of here alive."

Sam tensed as Gabriel held his hands up in surrender. "Let's just talk about this Dubbi. Sam's got nothing to do with this, his great-great-grandparents weren't even alive back when-"

"Back when you got me thrown out of heaven?"

"Mmmm I was going to say back when you went power-crazy and abused your position to the point where dad didn't consider you an angel anymore...but that works too. But hey, I didn't actually have anything to do with that. That was all your own fault. I was just the messenger. And do you really think all of this is going to get you a cozy place in Heaven back? 'Cause i've got news for you bro, dad's not up there anymore. He went AWOL. He doesn't even care about any of us anymore."

"Oh I know."

Phil spoke up. "But if that's true, if you know then...then why are you doing this?"

Gabriel tried to shush the human with a look.

"Phil, Phil, Phil. You poor, stupid sack of meat. I don't need you anymore." Dubbiel flicked his wrist and Phil's head snapped to the side, causing his body to drop lifeless to the ground and Gabriel winced, not bothering to turn and check if he was alive. He knew he wasn't and he narrowed his eyes and Dubbiel.

"I tried to warn him you were using him."

"Yes, well, he wasn't the brightest of humans. He just thought he was."

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure. You may have fooled him at first. But in the end he saw through you and decided to trust me instead." He snapped his fingers and the remains of Phil blew away like wisps of smoke. "The real Phil is getting the hell out of dodge. And he told me all about the ring of holy oil that's three steps to my left that you're waiting for me to walk into so you can set it on fire and trap me. That's not going to happen so you might as well just let Sam go."

"Well that's not going to happen either." Dubbiel tightened his grip painfully around Sam, cutting off his air for a second. "Screw God, i'm done playing for his team and trying to beg for his acceptance. Lucifer however, Lucifer will be the new God for a world risen from the ashes of this apocalypse. And I plan to help him obtain that goal. If Sam won't say yes, i'll just have to make him an offer he can't refuse."

"And what offer might that be? Nothing's going to make me say yes to that sonovabitch." Sam choked out.

"Oh I don't know about that. If you want to come back to life, you'll say yes. Otherwise he won't heal you." Dubbiel stepped back, producing a large, silver, curved blade and Sam vaugly heard Gabriel's voice, the sound of an angel, shouting as the metal slashed across his throat and caused his warm blood to bubble up into his lungs, gagging and choking him as spilled out of his mouth and his heart slowed to a stop.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Never Surrender

Chapter 8: Never Surrender

Gabriel let out a primal yell and lunged at Dubbiel over Sam's body that was still tied to the chair with blood dripping down his shirt from the gash across his throat. Letting out a pulse of energy in a blinding light he knocked the lower-rank angel backwards and quickly pressed his hand to his beloved's neck, willing his powers to heal the mortal wound and force energy back into the body. Willing the heart to start beating once again.

Dubbiel tackled him to the ground before he had a chance to heal Sam. Pinning him down, there was no trace of Heaven left in the eyes that glared at him with burning hatred.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you heal him? No Gabriel, no. I'm going to take away everything from you just like you toke everything away from me. And he's only the first step."

Gabriel snapped his fingers, summoning a gust of wind that rivaled the equal power of a tornado and blew Dubbiel off of him.

"You sure like to do alot of talking Dubbi. But do YOU really think that I'M going to let you live after you touched him? You're forgetting a key factor. To kill an arch angel, you need well... MY blade." A long silver sword with a small handle appeared in Gabriel's hands and he twirled it between his fingers. "And you know what dad always said. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So let me see that pretty neck of yours."

Dubbiel sprang back to his feet, his dark curls falling into his face and bared his teeth, more like a wild, dirty animal than an angel. He ran at Gabriel who readied himself, his fist curled around his blade so tightly his knuckles turned white.

He'd never actually killed one of his brothers before and an Arch Angel's wrath was the most terrifying force in both Heaven and Hell. But with Dubbiel running towards him, his dark hair flying around his face, and Sam's body limp and lifeless in the middle of the room he froze for a second.

Over the years he'd crossed one line too many and he was finally stepping over the final line. Once he killed another angel there would be no turning back. He'd be permanently lumped in with Lucifer and forsaken by Michael and Raphael. He had the blood of countless mortals and monsters on his hands, but nothing pure like one of his angelic brothers.

He vaguely wondered if his blood would still drip dark crimson or if it burned brighter red. He wondered if Dubbiel's dark and twisted soul would bleed the same as the blood pumping through his own veins.

He brought his sword up as Dubbiel's body slammed into his own and slashed a deep gash in his Middle Eastern vessel from the collarbone down his torso. He jerked back, gripping the wound that was leaking crimson at an alarming rate. Any normal stab wound or gun shot even wouldn't have fazed his body. But the power of the blade's ability to kill an angel enhanced it so that it altered their bodies from healing its wounds.

Blood continued to seep between Dubbiel's fingers as they grasped at the long cut, glaring at Gabriel and he could see in his eyes that his plans had fallen apart and now the disgraced angel was merely thrashing around in a panic. He wouldn't die from the gash but it'd leave a scar for the rest of eternity if he somehow survived past tonight.

Dubbiel's eyes narrowed in decision to retreat and Gabriel grabbed at him before he had a chance to vanish, sending them both vanishing into thin air and re-appearing in the middle of Tokyo, Japan; crash landing onto the windshield of a yellow Mitsubishi Lancer and shattering the plexi-glass upon impact as the car screeched to a halt.

Gabriel rolled off, the bright lights from the surrounding advertisements on buildings and the headlights of passing cars momentarily hurting his eyes. The blare of horns seemed deafening all around him as he focused on his new location.

Dubbiel clambered to his feet, ignoring the screams from the Japanese couple inside of the car and ran over the top of the vehicle, jumping onto the sidewalk and dodging in-between on-lookers into a dark alleyway.

Grabbing his fallen blade from the pavement, Gabriel chased after him, jumping over a fire hydrant and sliding into a dark ally that gave him cover to vanish once again and re-appear in front of Dubbiel.

His eyes widened in panic for a second before he toke Gabriel by surprise and slammed the older angel into a dirty brick wall, wincing as he felt the blade slash across his wrist. Warm blood tricked down his clothes and splashed onto the ground between them. Dubbiel grabbed Gabriel's wrists and slammed them both into the wall behind him with a strength he didn't know he possessed, causing the blade to tumble to the pavement.

They both looked down at the blade, and then back up at each other. Gabriel shoved Dubbiel off, who merely ducked and rolled to the ground, snatching the sword and lunging at Gabriel with it.

The ginger haired angel dodged to the side, but not quickly enough. He felt the sharp steel puncture his skin as it was driven into the flesh of his forearm and the crunch as it embedded itself into the wall behind him, effectively pinning him to the wall.

The pain from the wound burned, almost unbearably. It pulsed as blood gushed out of his arm and he bit back a yelp as Dubbiel twisted the blade in his arm, leaning close.

"I'll admit, I was worried for a minute there. But I win this game Gabriel. Say good bye."

Earlier Phil has asked if Gabriel was afraid to die. After two-thousand years of watching everyone and everything around him, he could honestly say no, he wasn't afraid. He regretted that his life would be over after such a long run. He felt sorry that no one would be left to protect the innocent humans the way he had. He felt slightly offended that a being of his power could be taken out of this world so easily by a fallen angel with a grudge and his own blade turned against him. But afraid, no.

The only thing that he knew for sure was that he didn't want to live this life anymore without Sam. Sam, who was currently dead back in that unknown house. No one had asked if he had been afraid to die. But somehow, Gabriel knew he hadn't been. He had seen a multitude of emotions flicker through Sam's hazel eyes before Dubbiel slashed his throat open, and not one of them had been fear.

He'd seen love, regret, apologies and anger. But most importantly, he had seen trust. Sam hadn't been afraid to die because he trusted Gabriel to bring him back. And right now Sam was either in Heaven or Hell. Either way, he had either Zachariah or Lucifer stalking him, chasing him, harassing him, to say yes.

If Gabriel died right here and now, there would be no one to save Sam. Sam was waiting for him to rescue him, to bring him back. He couldn't let him down.

No, Gabriel wasn't afraid to die. But that didn't mean he was going to.

He smirked and tilted his head, his olive green eyes sparkling with mischief. "Good bye Dubbi. You forgot that the blade you hold may be the only way to kill an arch angel, but I'm more powerful than you. I don't need that to kill you."

He placed his other hand around Dubbiel's throat just like Michael had done to Anna before he had the chance to bring the blade down on its owner. Michael's element had been fire, but Gabriel was the angel of water.

Dubbiel made a choking noise as he dropped the silver sword as his body glowed and buckled without control. He clawed at his neck and Gabriel's hand as he gasped for air and then threw his head back and screamed an un-earthly and shrill scream as rain suddenly came pouring down over them so heavy you could barely see the pedestrians running for shelter in the distance.

With one final jerk Dubbiel's body collapsed lifelessly onto the ground in a growing puddle of water.

Gabriel stood over his body, not allowing himself to feel regret over killing a brother or remorse for the life that was gone. No one touched Sam Winchester and lived to talk about it. No one.

He gingerly leaned down to retrieve the dropped weapon and tucked it into his soaked jacket, feeling it vanish inside. The wound from the blade still pulsed painfully as his blood mixed with his wet clothing, dying his entire jacket sleeve red and dripping off the hem to splash into the puddles on the pavement.

He ran his good hand through his damp ginger hair that was now plastered to his face and gave Dubbiel's still body one last glance, one last look, a memory to last an eternity, before vanishing back to where his lover's body still laid waiting for the soul he'd fallen in love with to be returned inside of it.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Sam crouched low in the woods. The memory of his last visit to Heaven was still fresh in his mind thanks to Joshua, the gardening angel, and it was the reason he was hiding behind this log in these dark woods.

Only this time Dean wasn't here to hide with him.

He mentally cursed Heaven. Go figure this memory couldn't have shown when Dean had been up here with him. Sam cherished his memories with his older brother, he really did. He couldn't help that the memories Dean had watched him re-live had been chosen, probably out of spite to hurt his older brother by the manipulative angels that were currently trying to capture him.

His current memory that he was running amok in was when he was 16. Dean had been 20 and talked their dad into letting Sam team up with him on the hunt instead of Dad. It was a day Sam would never forget. He got to watch his older brother in action, tracking and hunting and being his partner, instead of listening to his dad bitch about everything he was doing wrong while he tagged along behind him and tried to not get in the way.

In the end, John had killed the forest spirit by himself, but Sam and Dean had been too far in the woods to make it back out before dark. So instead they set up camp and spent the night pointing out the constellations, arguing over if it was Venus or Mars that they saw in the dark sky above them, and playing a very quick game of 'I spy' that both started and ended with the same thing.

"I spy something...black."

"Fucking everything Sam. It's night time."

Dean had rolled over and playfully punched his little brother, who was still shorter than him for the time being. But the most important thing about that night had been that Dean had laid there and listened to Sam talk, rant, whine and dream about what he wanted his future to be like without mocking him or complaining.

And now Zachariah had to go and mess up the whole thing. He could go join Lucifer in Hell, that's what he could do. He was never saying yes to Lucifer. And as long as he had Gabriel by his side, he wouldn't have to. They'd figure a way out of this. They just had to.

Ash hadn't shown up like he had last time and Sam was starting to lose hope. He had died, leaving Gabriel alone in a trap with that crazed lunatic of an ex-angel. He didn't doubt his lover's fighting ability, after all, he'd been the one fighting him and seeing him in action more than once, but much longer would he have to run and hide before Gabe came for him? If he came...he didn't want to think about the un-imaginable, that somehow Dubbiel had gained the advantage and killed his ethereal boyfriend, but the idea was starting to leak into his mind and he couldn't stop it.

He couldn't run forever. Especially not alone.

Zachariah's spotlight came closer and Sam made a mad dash for a break he saw in the trees, skidding to a stop in front of the building that loomed in front of him.

It was a university and he knew within a heartbeat which memory this was.

He ran inside the doors, slamming them shut behind him and raced up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time in enormous strides with his long legs. Up ahead he could hear a voice.

"I was up all night. Lots of sex if you catch my drift."

Sam came to a stop beside his memory of Dean as a ginger haired man in a Janitor's uniform turned slightly on the stairs to smirk at them.

Gabriel. Only, it was Gabriel back before they knew what he was. Back when they didn't even know he was a Trickster and were only trying to figure out what was maiming and scaring the kids on this college campus.

Sam's heart skipped a beat as he recognized the twinkle in those golden olive eyes and the way his soft lips twisted up in that mischievous smirk. Sam at the time, hadn't remembered the Trickster as Gabe Norsen from his high school days, hell, he didn't remember until last night. But Gabriel clearly remembered him, and the look in his eyes was the same adoring look that Gabriel gave him everyday that said both 'I love you', 'I'm going to protect you', and 'I want to ravish you' all in the same breath.

He saw a flicker of pain flash through his green eyes as he turned back around and lead Sam and Dean up the stairs. This was the part where Sam was supposed to pretend he forgot something and then sneak down into the locker room but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the memory of his lover's body. He never saw the hurt in him before and he silently wondered how long Gabriel had been watching him from afar, waiting for his chance to be with him.

What if Dubbiel had killed him and this was all Sam would have left of him? Just memories from the past. If that was the case, he'd run and hide from Zachariah forever. He'd rather live up here with his memories than in a world that was ending where he wouldn't be able to make new memories.

He watched Dean follow Gabriel up the stairs. This was where his memory ended. He slowly walked back down the stairs to where the Custodial locker room was and let the door shut with a click behind him.

In the corner was Gabriel's locker and he knew what he'd find. Issues of Weekly World News with the bizarre monsters from the attacks as headlines. In plain un-hidden view, almost as if they had been purposely placed there as a clue. And now knowing the true intentions behind the pranks Gabriel played, they probably were.

He opened the locker and sure enough, there they were. He toke them out and snorted, looking at their black and white pages. Over the years he must have been running out of ideas if he had to resort to the insane jibberish that was written in these badly photo shopped articles.

Something else in the locker caught his attention, taped to the back like another clue that he had over-looked before. He reached back and pulled it free from its tape, bringing it into the light where he could see it.

It was a photograph that he didn't remember being taken of him in high school, sitting at a cafeteria table with a pale kid leaning across the table with spiked ginger hair and long bangs. Gabe was smiling at the hidden camera, not smirking- but a wide, happy, carefree smile showing his white teeth and a knowing look in his eyes while Sam looked completely engrossed in his homework on the table and he wondered how many pictures like this Gabriel had taken and how many times or places Gabriel had hidden them over the years, trying to slip Sam the hint or poke at his memories before he had given up on him ever remembering their high school days together.

He didn't even know angels toke photos. He just assumed they could pop up to Heaven and relive their memories whenever they wanted. But he supposed that was a bit more difficult with Gabriel being a wanted run-a-away.

He dug around in the locker a bit more, pulling out several candy bars and packets of M&Ms and a black jacket that was hanging on the side. Inside one of the jacket's pockets was another picture. It was another one from high school, but this time it showed Gabe leaning casually against a wall while Sam was in mid-step, walking out of a classroom that he still couldn't remember. Algebra perhaps? Gabe's head was angled towards Sam but his eyes were shifted to the side to look at, once again, the camera that Sam had never even known existed.

He shoved both of the photos into his own jacket pocket and hoped they'd remain after he left this memory. If he couldn't control which memories he saw and when, he wanted to make sure he always had a memory of Gabriel on him.

Pushing back open the door, he made his way back out into the hallway.

"This is one of your favorite memories? Really? You tried to shove a stake through me... and Dean succeeded."

Sam spun around and came face to face with a pale being with a slender, pointed face and bright emerald eyes that was as tall as he was and had bright ginger hair that fell in waves around his shoulders.

"Gabriel?"

Gabriel smirked and imitated a shallow bow. "The one and only. Ready to get out of here?"

"Yeah but...is that your real form? Where's your vessel?"

He rolled emerald gemstone eyes that were almost blinding compared to his usual dark olive green flecked with gold.

"Real form, projection of my mind into Heaven, whichever is easier for you to understand. As for my body, it's not doing so great on the floor without me in it so can we get going before we're both stuck up here? I, for one, am NOT up for a family reunion. I haven't been up here in CENTURIES and if my brothers and sisters find out I'm back it'd cause more chaos than a T-rex in the middle of drunken Australians. Trust me, I'd know."

Sam smiled, containing a laugh. Yeah, it was his Gabriel all right. Looking like something that stepped out of Lord of the Rings or not, it was his Gabriel and he was going home.

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Back on Earth, the pain in his arm from his own blade's wound was still throbbing. An injury from an arch angel's sword was going to take time to heal, almost as if he was a normal human that had been stabbed by a normal sword. But all that mattered right now was who was currently bandaging up his arm, wrapping gauze around it and fussing at him to stop moving.

He'd gotten Sam back before Zachariah had been able to get to him and that itself felt like a small victory, like he had won a race and brought home the greatest prize of all. Even if he currently couldn't move his arm and he was feeling real, true pain for the first time in two-thousand years, it was all worth it.

"And I still can't believe you didn't call me!" Dean was still ranting and pacing around the room about Gabriel's escapade without him. "He's my younger brother! I was worried out of my freakin mind here!"

"Dean, I already told you, it was hard enough to get Phil out of there. I wouldn't have been able to sneak you out or keep you safe too. I mean, come on, and look at what Dubbiel did to ME." He gestured to his limp arm with his good hand and raised both eyebrows.

"Yeah, and I already told you that if I ever see that sonovabitch lousy excuse for a hunter I'm going to rip his lungs out! Manipulated by a douche angel or not, he was planning on hunting Sam WAY before he got on board with team ass-wings. I still don't see why you let him get away, I mean, considering you've never had a problem offing a human before. You're kind of a lousy excuse for a person."

"Well I'm not a person, I'm an angel."

"What's the difference?"

"I'm better than people of course." Dean glared at Gabriel so he continued. "And I already told you I don't kill hunters. But trust me; I've got a link on him. He puts another toe out of line and-" He snapped his fingers.

Dean winced and looked around quickly to make sure the snap didn't affect anything in the hotel room. He cautiously looked out the door and then back at Gabriel.

"It's not going to be raining skittles or anything if I open the door, is it?"

"Depends...do you want to taste the rainbow?"

Dean sighed and rubbed his temple. "No. I don't. Not in any way, shape, or form do I want any tasting of any sort of any rainbows of any sort...I...aurgh. I need to get out of here."

Dean grabbed his car keys and jerked open the hotel room door and shutting it roughly behind him.

Gabriel looked at Sam.

"You know he's gay for Castiel, right?"

"Oh yeah. I know." Sam laughed; his finger's lingering over Gabriel's bandaged arm and furrowed his brows.

Gabriel placed a hand under his chin and lifted his head up to look him in the eyes.

"Oh no you don't Rapunzel- I know that look. None of this was your fault. Dubbiel had issues with me way before you were even born. This was just bad timing for his revenge and you got caught in the cross-fire."

The kicked puppy dog expression on Sam's face was replaced with un-amusement.

"For the last time. You are NOT using that nickname."

"Aw." Gabriel pretended to pout. "But you're the fruit to my loops." He almost laughed out loud at the confused expression on Sam's face.

"What does that even mean? Are you...are you calling me fruity?"

"If I am, I'm calling myself loopy. Or maybe I'm just trying to tell you that you taste good."

"I taste like cheap cereal? Gee, thanks Gabe."

Gabriel sighed and smirked, twisting his fingers up into Sam's long locks of hair and bringing their faces closer together until their noses touched.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

Sam obliged by softly pressing his lips against Gabriel's, who deepened the kiss, pressing harder and rougher against his mouth. Their tongues clashed in the middle, fighting for dominance as Gabriel gently pulled on Sam's hair.

He let his hand drift out of Sam's hair and down to the back of his neck, pulling the human with him as leaned backwards and laid down on the motel bed's dark red blanket. Sam leaned down over him, running his tongue over his bottom lip and pressing his body closer to the angel's, grinding their hips together and creating friction that made Gabriel moan out loud into Sam's mouth.

He arched his body in pleasure against Sam, feeling their erections pressing hard against each other through layers of fabric and nipped at Sam's tongue which caused Sam to press against him harder and break the ravishing kiss.

"Oh God-"

Gabriel growled and rolled his eyes, pushing against Sam's shoulders with his good hand.

"Hold up- hold up. We're not doing this if you're going to call out my dad's name during sex. How would you like it if I called out John?"

"It'd be super awkward..."

"Yeah...it would be wouldn't it?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow and pretended to glare at Sam. "So what's my name?"

"Gabriel." Sam whispered as he lowered his head again to kiss down the angel's soft neck. "What's mine?"

"Rapunzel."

Sam bit down hard on his neck in response and Gabriel writhed for a second under him.

"Ok, ok! Sam! It's Sam!"

Sam smiled against his skin and gently licked the bruise that was forming on the pale skin as an apology for the attack.

"Can I cover you in whipped cream?"

"No."

"Chocolate syrup?"

"No."

"Strawberry syrup?"

"No."

"Real strawberries?"

Sam finally looked up at Gabriel. "You're ruining the moment you know."

"I know. It's kind of what I enjoy doing."

It was Sam's turn to growl. "I finally find the courage to do more than kiss you without fear of having a heart attack or my brother walking in and being scarred for life and all you can do is make jokes?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Hey, you're the one that doesn't want things to be licked off of you." He whistled. "Weirdo."

"I just don't want the sticky feeling afterwards."

Gabriel grinned wide. "Well Sammy, one way or another, you're going to be sticky by the end of tonight." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number he had easily memorized.

"Who the hell are you calling right now in the middle of this?" Sam whispered harshly, and Gabriel could see the want to knock the phone out of his hand and smash it against the wall in his eyes.

Gabriel shushed him, weakly running his injured hand down his thigh as the person on the other end picked up.

"Hey Deano, just giving you a heads up that me and Sam won't be here when you get back. Don't look for us. Ciao." He snapped the phone back shut without waiting for Dean's protesting response and ignoring the horrified look on Sam's face.

"Well, let's go somewhere a little more private, shall we?"

Grinning, Gabriel snapped his fingers, taking Sam and him somewhere that they could be alone for hours with no one but themselves. No apocalypse, no angels, no demons, no hunters or older brothers. Just the two of them locked in each others embrace, creating fresh memories for a hopeful future.

End

Ah...in the end I just couldn't write the sex scene. I'm shy lol. After all these chapters, Phil and Dubbiel seemed kind of anti-climatic but it was the only way I could see this going without getting too crazy and going on for another 4-5 chapters. And with my current tumblr addiction I feel bad enough that it's been taking me so long to update this and my other fics.

Oh well, thanks for reading through till the end, and thanks to everyone who has been commenting and following this from chapter 1. I love all of you.


End file.
